Bitter Consequences
by MaureenT
Summary: Jack's refusal to listen to a warning from Daniel results in serious consequences that may cost Daniel his life and ultimately leads SG-1 to some amazing discoveries. Daniel & Sam romance. Tissues may be needed. COMPLETE. Revised on 03/22/09.
1. Chapter 1

**Bitter Consequences**

**Author:** MaureenT  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Categories:** Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Romance  
**Content Warning:** Adult Themes, Mild Profanity, Violence  
**Spoilers:** Children of the Gods, The Nox, Cold Lazarus, Fire and Water, Enigma, Solitudes, There but for the Grace of God, Politics, Thor's Chariot, Secrets, The Tok'ra, Spirits, The Fifth Race, Show and Tell, Seth, Legacy, Point of View, Forever in a Day, Past and Present, Shades of Grey, Maternal Instinct, Crystal Skull, The Other Side, Divide and Conquer, Window of Opportunity, Scorched Earth, Entity, Double Jeopardy, Ascension, Summit, Last Stand, Menace, Meridian, Abyss, Full Circle, Fallen, Orpheus, Enemy Mine.

**Author's Notes:** **This story contains a Daniel/Sam romance.** There are certain plot elements left open at the end of the story that will be continued in the sequel. The events of this fanfic take place after the 7th season episode "Birthright."

* * *

**INTRODUCTION**  
Added 03/22/09

This story was the first Stargate fanfic I'd ever written. It was written during the mid-season hiatus of Season 7. Back then, we had a lot less knowledge about the Ancients. It was before Lost City, so we also didn't know about the Ancient gene and that Jack could control Ancient technology. Nor did we know of the existance of the Ori and the real reasons why the Ancients had their laws. Since it was written, a great many things have come to light that makes this fanfic even more AU than it was originally. Because of this, it is necessary to make clear that this story departs almost entirely from the canon of the series at a point somewhere between Birthright and Evolution.

In this "universe", there is no Ancient gene, and Jack cannot control Ancient technology. Therefore, the events of Fragile Balance did not take place since Loki would have had no reason to abduct Jack. Moreover, though the reasons why the Ancients have done some things remain the same, they also have plans and motivations that did not exist in the series. In the sequel, those plans and motives will be revealed.

In the years that have passed since I first wrote this story, my skills as a writer have improved, and I decided that this fanfic needed a major overhaul. If you have read it before, you may notice some of the revisions I've made, which do not change the main plotline but do make significant alterations to some key scenes, as well as correct mistakes and oversights I made when the story was originally written. My first revision was made in March 2008, the second a year later. I hope that you will enjoy the new, improved version.

CHAPTER ONE

"Hey, Daniel. How are you doing?"

Daniel Jackson looked up from the photos scattered across his desk to see Samantha Carter standing just inside the doorway of his office. "Hi, Sam. Oh, I'm fine. Too much work to do, but that's nothing new."

Sam came further into the room. "You've been working too hard lately. It seems like you're always here."

The archeologist smiled faintly. "So are you. You put in just about as many hours here as I do."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, I guess I don't have much room to talk, do I. I am going to take some time off next weekend, though. Janet, Cassie and I are planning on getting together and go do something. We haven't decided what we're going to do yet, probably just take a road trip."

"That sounds nice. I haven't seen Cassie much since I came back."

"I know. She misses you. She was really lonely for you that year you were gone."

Daniel brought the subject back to the trip, not wanting to dwell on those months of which he had virtually no memory. "So, a road trip, huh? Have you ever been to Mesa Verde? It's not all that far from here, just a few hours away."

"You know, come to think of it, I haven't. Isn't that funny? I've lived in this state all these years, and I've never seen one of its most well-known attractions."

"Well, you really should see it. It's an amazing archeological site, but you don't have to be an archeologist to appreciate it."

"Hmm. Maybe we'll do that." A smile lit Sam's face. "Hey, why don't you come with us?"

A spark lit momentarily in Daniel's eyes, but died quickly. "I'm sure you wouldn't want me along. I mean, this is going to be a weekend just for girls, isn't it? The last thing you'd want was a guy along."

"You're not a guy, you're . . . you're _Daniel_."

The linguist's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?"

Sam smiled in embarrassment. "Oh, that didn't come out right, did it. What I mean is that you're not a typical guy. How many guys do you know who would actually enjoy going off alone on a road trip with three female friends who were probably going to spend the whole trip yakking?"

"Probably not many," Daniel admitted.

"Exactly. But you're not like that. You'd probably actually have fun. And we'd have fun being with you."

Daniel gave her a pleased smile. "Thanks, Sam. That's really nice of you to say."

"Which part? The part about you not being a typical guy or the part about you being fun to be with?"

"Both, I guess, since it sounds like the first part was meant to be a compliment, too."

"Oh, it definitely was, believe me. So, what do you say? We can all go to Mesa Verde, and you can tell us all about it."

"I have to admit that does sound great, but shouldn't you ask Janet and Cassie what they think about it?" Daniel asked.

"I'll ask them, but I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have you come with us."

"Okay. If they want me along, too, then I'd love to go."

"Great! I'll ask Janet later, then she can ask Cassie." She grinned at Daniel brightly. "This is going to be fun." She glanced at her watch. "Oh. I need to get going. There are some things I want to get done before the mission. See you in a bit."

The smile still on his face, Daniel returned his attention to the photos before him, which were of a structure that was found on the planet they were scheduled to visit this morning. The building was rather odd-looking, and he was eager to see what was inside.

The next hour passed quickly, and it was soon time to go to the briefing. He gathered up his notes and left his office.

"Hey, Daniel," called a familiar voice. Not stopping his forward progress, the linguist glanced over his shoulder to see Jack trotting toward him.

"Hi, Jack."

"So, you got any plans for tonight?"

"Um, yeah, work."

"Ah, come on. You can do better than that. There's a movie playing that I want to see. How about if we catch an early show, then go for some pizza?"

"Sorry, Jack, but I can't," Daniel said, knowing that he really couldn't this time. "I've got to get those translations done for SG-2, and I need to finish cataloging the artifacts brought back from P9A-116. Then there's the—"

"Oh, for cryin' out loud, Daniel," the colonel interrupted. "When's the last time you took any time off? When's the last time you even went home instead of working half the night and crashing on the cot in your office?"

Daniel flashed back to his earlier thoughts. "Uhhh. . . ." He paused, trying to remember how long it was since he had been home.

"Ah ha! That's what I thought. If it's been so long that you can't even remember, then it's been far too long."

"I've got a lot of work to do," the archeologist said defensively.

"You've _always_ got a lot of work to do, and you're always working. You need to stop and have some fun, loosen up, get a life."

"I _have_ a life, Jack. I just don't have a _social_ life, which is something that's not easy to have when your job entails spending the better part of your time on other planets that most people on Earth don't even know exist. That's not exactly standard dinner party conversation, even if I could talk about it."

"I'm just saying, Daniel, that you need to get a life outside the Stargate Program, maybe get a girlfriend."

"Have anyone in particular in mind?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Well, I've seen Major Brookings giving you the eye."

"Major Brookings? The woman who has more muscles than I do?" Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that could be . . . interesting."

Daniel rolled his eyes and resumed walking.

"Okay, how about Lieutenant Whitmore? She's kind of cute," Jack suggested, catching up to Daniel. There was no reply. "Nurse Stewart? Captain Marks? That pretty girl in X-Ray?"

Jack kept spouting off names as they walked into the briefing room. Daniel was relieved to see that Sam and Teal'c were already there.

Seeing the look on Daniel's face, the female member of SG-1 asked him, "What's up?"

"Jack's trying to fix me up with half the woman in the SGC," the linguist replied, looking like he was at the end of his patience.

Sam's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Uh . . . he is? Why?"

"Because Daniel here needs to learn to live a little," the colonel answered, "and getting a steady girlfriend is just the way to do it. It would give him a reason to go home when he's not on a mission."

Daniel opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the arrival of the general. Everyone settled in their seats and began the briefing. When Daniel's turn came, he revealed what little he knew about the structure on the planet.

"The walls are constructed of uncut stones," he said. "The roof looks to be made of rough-hewn logs that have been stained or painted black. As you can see from the pictures, there are seven pinnacles rising from the roof. There is no clue as to the purpose of these pinnacles. They may only serve as ornamentation. The structure would appear to indicate that the builders used only rudimentary tools. Surprisingly, the building is almost a perfect hexagon, which means that great care was exercised in the placement of the walls. This is rather strange given the crudeness of the structure in other regards. It may mean either that the builders did not have the skills or the means to do a better job or that the structure was built quickly with no time taken on its aesthetic value."

"Any idea what the purpose of the building is?" Hammond asked.

"Not really. It's pretty hard to tell much of anything from the outside. However, judging by the amount of plant life that has grown over and around it, I'd say it either hasn't been used in a while or is very seldom visited."

"Well, according to the rest of the footage taken by the UAV, there is no sign of civilization within ten miles of the Stargate," Sam said, "so it's possible that the entire area is now abandoned, though there is a rough trail leading from the gate to the temple, as well as in the opposite direction."

Half an hour later, SG-1 was in the gate room, waiting for the wormhole to P7Y-359 to engage. Jack noticed that one of the Marines there was giving Daniel a once-over, an appreciative look on her face. He nudged Daniel in the ribs.

"What about her?" he murmured close to the archeologist's ear, jerking his head slightly in the woman's direction.

Daniel glanced her way briefly, then focused his gaze back on the gate. "Jack, has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want a girlfriend?" he asked in a low voice.

"Why wouldn't you? You're still young and in good health . . . well, most of the time. Most guys your age have a girlfriend or are married. . . ." A look of realization came to Jack's face, along with an expression of contriteness. "Oh. Sorry, Daniel. I didn't think." He then shut up.

Daniel said nothing, knowing what Jack was thinking. His friend thought that the reason Daniel didn't want a girlfriend was because he was still grieving over Sha're. Daniel knew that a part of his heart would always miss her and grieve over her loss. He had loved her deeply. But was she the reason why he had no desire to date? At first, yes. For a long time after he lost Sha're, the idea of starting a relationship with someone else was unthinkable. Oh, there had been that whole foolish thing with Ke'ra, who had turned out to be Linea, the Destroyer of Worlds, but Daniel later realized that it had been nothing but a horrible mistake. His grief over Sha're's death had driven him to desperately try to find someone or something that would ease his pain, sort of like what sometimes happens when a person goes on the rebound, immediately getting into a relationship with someone new after breaking up with somebody else. His true feelings for Ke'ra had never been anything more than physical attraction and deep fondness, respect and admiration. Thank God they'd never done anything more than kiss.

So, what about now? Time had dulled the pain of Sha're's death, washed away the feeling that he could never be with another woman. But, in that time, other things, other . . . feelings had come to his attention, feelings that he knew he could never reveal.

The opening of the wormhole jarred Daniel's attention back to the present. He went up the ramp with the others and through the event horizon.

"Oh, my. Now, this is something we almost never see. Trees," Jack remarked as they came out the other side, the sarcasm heavy in his voice.

They were standing in the midst of a small clearing, surrounded by a forest that was a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees. A narrow path meandered off in both directions from the Stargate. From the condition of the path, it was clear that it was seldom used.

"Okay, let's go check out that weird building first, then we'll go see what's in the other direction," Jack ordered. "I'll take point. Carter, on our six."

They headed off toward the structure the UAV had spotted. Sam kept her eyes open for trouble, turning to look behind them often. They'd been walking for about fifteen minutes when a small sound behind them drew her attention. She turned to see a fox-like creature scurry across the path and into the trees. She faced forward again and nearly walked right into Daniel, who had slowed his pace for some reason. There was a deep frown on his face.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, uh . . . nothing." The archeologist picked up his pace. It wasn't long, though, before he was slowing down again, his eyes darting about the forest as if looking for something.

"Daniel?" Sam touched his arm and was surprised when he jumped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. What's going on? You look . . . I don't know, kind of skittish."

Daniel kept his eyes on the forest. "Sam, do you feel anything strange?"

"Strange? In what way?"

"I don't know, sort of like the feeling you get in the air just before a really big storm breaks, only . . . stronger."

"Um, no, I don't feel anything like that. Sorry."

Daniel rubbed his arms. "It's kind of chilly."

"Chilly? Daniel, it must be at least seventy-five."

"It is?" The archeologist said in surprise. "It feels cold to me."

"Are you sure you're feeling all right? Maybe you're coming down with something."

Daniel shook his head. "No, I'm okay."

"Hey! We're not on a Sunday stroll here!" called Jack's voice from up ahead. "Are you coming or not?"

Daniel and Sam hurried to catch up. As they continue toward the structure, Sam divided her attention between watching for potential threats and Daniel. He was growing progressively more nervous, his eyes darting about quickly, muscles tense. Finally, he came to a complete stop.

"Sam, I think we should turn around and go back," he said in low, tight voice.

"What? Why?"

"It's just a feeling I have."

Just then, Jack came walking up to them. "Is there a problem?" he asked, a slight edge of irritation in his voice.

"Yeah, I think we should go back, see what's in the other direction instead," Daniel replied.

Jack stared at him. "And is there a particular reason why?"

Daniel paused for a long moment. "I just have this really strong feeling that we should turn around and go back."

"A feeling? Carter, do you have a 'feeling', too?"

Surprised by the sharp tone in the colonel's voice, Sam looked at him. "Uh, no, sir, but—"

"Hey, Teal'c!" Jack shouted, interrupting Sam. "Do you have any _feelings_ that we shouldn't keep going?"

"I do not, O'Neill," the Jaffa replied from where he stood several yards further up the path.

"Well, fancy that. Neither do I, and since I'm the team leader and the one who makes the decisions, I guess you're overruled, Daniel. Now, get a move on. I want to be off this planet well before nightfall."

Not waiting for Daniel and Sam, Jack strode up the path. Sam looked at the archeologist, whose jaw was clenched in anger. "Daniel—"

"Forget it, Sam. Let's just keep going," he said tightly.

They continued up the path. Sam couldn't understand the colonel's reaction. He had been pretty chipper earlier. Now, he suddenly seemed to be in a bad mood and was unfairly taking it out on Daniel. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could say or do about it, except give her friend all the support she could. This wasn't the first time that she had been in this position. There had been plenty of times in the past when Daniel and the colonel were at odds. Colonel O'Neill's military outlook often clashed with Daniel's humanitarianism. More often than not, Sam leaned toward Daniel's viewpoint, though she usually kept it to herself. Ironically, just about the only time that she openly agreed with Jack instead of Daniel was during that horrible debacle with the Eurondans. Though she conceded Daniel's point about them not having the right to choose sides in a war they knew nothing about, her desire to get hold of the Eurondan technology affected her judgment. Well, Daniel had turned out to be completely right in that situation. They should have learned all the facts before helping Alar and his people.

Daniel and Jack's relationship had gone through a lot of rough spots over the years, but, since Daniel descended, things had been going along pretty well between them. There had been no arguments nor even any big disagreements. Which made what just happened all the more puzzling.

Sam put a halt to her thoughts as they broke into a clearing and saw their goal before them. Sam moved toward the odd-looking structure. As seen from the UAV's video footage, the walls of the building were made of uncut stone mortared together. The roof was constructed of roughly cut logs that, upon closer examination, appeared to be coated with a tar-like substance. The roof sloped upward to the center, where a single log, cut into a pinnacle, rose upward around eight feet above the top of the roof. Six smaller pinnacles were equally spaced around the outer edges of the roof, positioned at the juncture of each wall. There were no windows, the only opening being the single doorway. Weeds were growing all around the structure, several different species of vines clinging to the walls.

Sam had gone forward about five yards when she realized that Daniel was not with her. Turning, she saw him at the edge of the clearing, standing utterly still, his eyes fixed upon the building. She returned to him.

"Daniel?"

"Sam, I have a really bad feeling about this place."

"Like what you were feeling before?"

"Yeah, only a lot worse. I . . . I don't think I can go in that building."

Surprised and more than a little concerned, Sam studied the expression on her friend's face. She had never seen him acting like this before, not even when their lives were at risk. Daniel almost always possessed an air of composure, even in dangerous situations. The fact that he was acting so out of character really worried her. "Maybe you should tell the colonel how uncomfortable you feel."

"I doubt he'll listen."

"Well, let's try."

With obvious reluctance, Daniel followed her to where Jack and Teal'c were.

"Daniel, you go check that place out," Jack said. "The rest of us will look around out here and keep a lookout for natives."

"Um, I'd really rather not, Jack," Daniel told him.

Jack turned around and stared at him. "What?"

"I said that I'd rather not go in there. In fact, I'd prefer it if we would just leave."

"You keep saying that, Daniel, and it's getting more than a little irritating."

"Why do you wish to leave, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"Because there's something about this place that gives me an extremely uneasy feeling."

Jack glared at him. "There you go with those 'feelings' again. So, what are you saying, that the place gives you the heebie-jeebies?"

"Define heebie-jeebies," Teal'c requested.

Before anyone could explain to the Jaffa, Daniel said, "All right, Jack. Yes, it gives me the heebie-jeebies. Are you satisfied?"

Jack gave a short, nasty laugh. "I don't believe this. We come up against slimy snakeheads, club-wielding neanderthals, giant flying bugs, even nastier mechanical bugs, invisible bug-like monsters, black holes, exploding suns, meteors, and all kinds of other life-threatening things, and it's all just part of a day's work, but here's this one little abandoned building, and you get all jittery. We came all this way to see that thing, and I'm not about to tell Hammond that we turned around and went back just because it gave you the creeps. Just get in there, Daniel, look around, take your videos and your notes, and come back. That's all you have to do."

"No."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "No? Did I hear you say no?"

"I'm not going in there."

Barely controlled anger twisted Jack's face. "Now, you listen to me, Daniel. You are on my team, and as long as I'm in charge, you will do as I say. You got it? I am fed up with your defiance and disobedience. I am sick of your attitude, the way you think that everyone should do what you want to do and what you think is right. And then there's your insistence on exploring every rock and building on the planets we go to. Every time we find something like this, all you want to do is explore. That's all you ever want to do. Even when the Goa'uld are breathing down our necks, you want to go off and play with your rocks. And, now, all of a sudden, you say that you don't want to? I am so damn sick of this! What is it with you? If you're not whining about one thing, you're whining about something else. I don't want to hear about your 'feelings' about this place. It's all in your head. There's nothing here but rocks, and trees, and a dusty old building. So suck it up, stop whining, go do your job, and get out of my hair!"

An expression of shock and pain passed over Daniel's face. Then an emotionless mask fell over the archeologist's features with such suddenness that it was like a door had been slammed in Jack's face. Without a word, Daniel turned and went into the temple, his back ramrod straight.

"Sir—" Sam began.

"Not a word, Carter," Jack commanded. "Come on. Let's scout the area, make sure there are no unfriendlies."

The major sighed, glancing at the temple. "Yes, sir."

Sam did as her C.O. requested and searched the immediate area for signs of recent activity, but her mind was not on what she was doing. Instead, she was thinking about Daniel and the look that had been on his face. It hurt her to see him in pain, whether that pain was physical or emotional. Ever since he'd descend, she'd found herself feeling rather protective of him. She knew it was a reaction to his "death" and having been without him for a year, but that didn't stop her from wanting to shield him from more pain and suffering. Since his return, he'd been in life threatening situations several times, and there had been moments when she'd been terrified that she was going to lose him, but she knew that, as long as Daniel was a part of SG-1, he'd be putting his life on the line like the rest of them. The last thing he needed was to be yelled at and insulted by his C.O.

The more Sam thought about what Jack had said, the angrier she became. What possessed the colonel to say those things to Daniel? What gave him the right to be such a bastard? The colonel's verbal attack on Daniel had been cruel, hurtful, vicious and totally unwarranted. She had half a mind to go find that insensitive jerk and kick him in the—

Whoa! Where did those thoughts come from? There had been times when she was irritated with her commanding officer, even times when she was angry with him, but she had never seriously thought about physically attacking him. _'Calm down, Sam,'_ she chastised herself. _'It's neither healthy nor good for your career to consider making your C.O. sing soprano.'_

Shoving down her anger, Sam forced her attention back to her job.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Furious and hurt beyond words, Daniel strode into the temple. How dare Jack speak to him like that, like a recalcitrant child who needed to be put in his place? What gave Jack the right to treat him with such disrespect? He should just march right back out of this temple and give that arrogant, bullying jerk a piece of his mind! Maybe Jack wouldn't be so arrogant after he got a few teeth knocked out or that nose of his broken.

Daniel halted that train of thought. Who was he kidding? Jack would eat him for breakfast. The man was ex-Special Ops, trained in a hundred different ways to kill people. Daniel wouldn't have a prayer against him.

Daniel's rage abruptly vanished as he became aware of something. He came to a dead stop. It was all around him, an oppressive, chilling feeling of wrongness. He had thought that it felt bad outside, but this . . . this was far worse. Daniel found himself turning around quickly, his eyes darting from place to place, expecting to see some foul monster leap out at him. He was convinced that he was not alone, that something was lurking within the structure. He wanted to leave, to escape outside, to escape from the planet and never return. Never in his life had he felt such an overwhelming sensation of evil. He was not the kind of man who got rattled easily. In fact, it took a hell of a lot to make him jumpy. Yet, here he was, feeling like he was about to jump out of his own skin.

A scrabbling sound off to Daniel's left had him nearly levitating off the ground. He spun around, his gun already in his hands, and saw a rat-like creature scurry away into a dark corner. Not relaxing, Daniel reholstered his sidearm and tried to concentrate on the job at hand. He was not going to give Jack the satisfaction of seeing him run with his tail tucked between his legs.

Daniel began looking about. He was surprised to see that the inside walls of the temple were completely coated with what appeared to be the same substance that was used for the mortar between the stones, making the walls a uniform light gray. He also saw that there was a door for the entrance, which looked to be covered with the same black, tar-like substance as the pinnacles on the roof.

There were no ornamentations, carvings or writings of any kind inside the structure. Daniel could also see no statues or any other kinds of artifacts, with one exception. In the center of the room was a supporting pillar made of small, uncut stones and mortar. At the base of the pillar was a round wooden table that surrounded the pillar. Sitting upon the table were four black trays decorated with whorls of red paint.

As Daniel stared at the trays, he became aware of a sound at the periphery of his senses. At first, he tried to ignore it, but, after a while, he no longer could. It sounded like a voice, speaking in a low, angry whisper, uttering words that the linguist could not understand. Chills crawling up and down his spine, Daniel looked around.

"Is somebody there?" he asked to the empty room. There was no reply. "Who's there?" Still nothing.

Daniel was just about to turn back toward the trays when something touched him, something ice cold and with a feeling of such darkness and malevolence that Daniel could not stop the cry that issued from his throat. He stumbled backwards, turned and fled, not stopping until he was half a dozen yards from the temple. He stood there and took several deep breaths, trying to stop the shaking of his body. It was a long time before he regained control of himself. A couple of minutes later, Sam came out of the woods. She walked up to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look a little pale."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

The major looked at him closely for a moment, then decided not to push it. "Find anything interesting in there?"

For a moment, Daniel was tempted to tell her what had happened, then he decided against it. He didn't want his teammates to think he was losing it, and, judging by Jack's attitude earlier, it wouldn't take much for him to think that.

"Not much. My guess is that it's a temple of some kind. There were no writings at all, and the only artifacts were four decoratively painted trays, possibly used for carrying offerings or in some kind of ritual."

Just then, Teal'c and Jack appeared. The colonel glanced at Daniel, then looked away, his expression unreadable.

"There appears to be nothing of interest here," he stated, "unless somebody else found something."

"I didn't find anything, sir," Sam told him.

Daniel said nothing. He simply glared at Jack, then turned his back to them and headed down the trail in the direction of the Stargate.

"Daniel!" Jack yelled. He received nothing but silence from the archeologist. Muttering under his breath, he strode off in the same direction. Sam and Teal'c exchanged a look, then followed.

Daniel was already at the DHD and dialing home when Jack reached him.

"What do you think you're doing?" the colonel asked.

"I'm going home," Daniel replied through clenched teeth.

Jack stepped forward. "All right, Daniel, now, look—" He reached out to touch the younger man's arm.

Daniel leapt away from him like he was a poisonous snake. "Don't touch me!" he yelled.

Stunned by the expression of rage and anguish on the linguist's face, Jack took a step backwards. He remained silent as Daniel turned back to the DHD and continued dialing. As soon as the wormhole had been established, Daniel sent the I.D.C. code, then escaped through the gate. Sam and Teal'c came up beside the colonel. They had seen the altercation between the men but chose to remain silent about it.

"Were we not going to search the area south of the gate, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"We were, but I guess, now, we're not," Jack replied. All the anger that he'd experienced earlier had disappeared only a few minutes after his altercation with Daniel, leaving him feeling tired, troubled and more than a little guilty. Now feeling like he really, really did not want to be there anymore, he said, "Come on. Let's go."

* * *

General Hammond studied the members of SG-1. They were in the midst of the debriefing on the mission to P7Y-359, and the general could tell that something was up. It wasn't anything obvious, just a faint undercurrent between the four people sitting before him. Throughout the meeting, Jack, Sam and Teal'c all kept glancing at Daniel, their expressions ranging from concern to guilt. Daniel, on the other hand, looked at none of them. He kept his eyes glued to the table throughout most of the debriefing, except for the brief moments when he was giving his report, then he looked only at the general. Hammond tried to gain some insight as to what was going on from the archeologist's expression, but Daniel had assumed that emotionless mask the SGC commander had seen on numerous occasions when the young man was attempting to hide his feelings.

SG-1 wrapped up their report, which seemed oddly incomplete, and fell silent. The general looked at all of them one by one, finally focusing on Jack.

"You returned from your mission several hours sooner than scheduled. You mind telling me why?"

"We didn't find anything of interest, sir," the colonel replied. "The area we covered was empty of signs that someone had been there recently."

Still getting the feeling that something was going on, Hammond stared at Jack a moment longer, than nodded. "Very well, people. You're scheduled for the mission to P5C-801 at 0700 hours tomorrow. Colonel, please remain seated. The rest of you are dismissed."

Jack stayed in his chair as his teammates filed out of the room. Once they were gone, the general turned to him.

"Is there something I should know about, Colonel?"

"No, sir. Nothing happened that you need to know about. The area was deserted, not a soul in sight."

Hammond continued to fix the colonel with a penetrating stare. "Did something happen between Doctor Jackson and one of his teammates?"

There was a long pause that succeeded in answering the general's question.

"There was a disagreement, but I'll be sure to get it ironed out," Jack finally replied. "It'll be fine."

"I hope so, Colonel. Things like that can affect the performance of a team. I expect this to be taken care of before you depart for P5C-801 tomorrow."

"Don't worry, General. It will be."

Hammond nodded shortly. "Very well. You're dismissed."

Jack left the briefing room. He knew that he should go talk to Daniel right away, but he just couldn't get up the nerve. Now that they were back home, his guilt about the things he said had grown into a nagging ache in his gut. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he said those things. Since Daniel's return, the relationship between them had been pretty good, maintaining an even keel. Oh, they'd had some of their usual disagreements, but nothing even remotely serious. The truth was that Jack had not wanted to get into an argument with Daniel. He'd been without his best friend for a year and was so happy to have him back that he'd tried to show a little more patience toward the archeologist. Not that he'd always succeeded, but he had tried. So, why had he gotten so enraged on the planet? Jack winced internally as he thought about his scathing remarks to the younger man. He definitely needed to make this right. It would be best, though, to wait until Daniel had cooled down a little. Daniel was not the kind of man who could stay angry for long. Jack was sure that, by this afternoon, the linguist would be ready to talk things out.

Decision made, Jack headed off to his office to begin writing up his report.

* * *

Daniel threw his pen down angrily. He'd been trying to record the events of the mission in his field journal, but he could not stop thinking about the things Jack had said to him. His anger was building again, and he really felt like he needed to hit something. Maybe he should go down to the gym and pound the punching bag into submission. Instantly rejecting that idea, Daniel got up and began pacing, his mind going to the things Jack had said and silently responding to them.

_"You are on my team, and as long as I'm in charge, you will do as I say,"_ recalled Daniel's memory.

_'Yeah, that's right, Jack. You're the big boss. Your word is law, and God forbid that I dare say or do anything against it, regardless of how totally wrong you can be about things.' _

_"I am fed up with your defiance and disobedience,"_ said the next memory.

_'Well, what do you expect, Jack, when you never listen to me? You rarely accept my advice, and you almost never give any credence to what I'm trying to tell you. It is so damn frustrating sometimes!' _

_"I am sick of your attitude, the way you think that everyone should do what you want to do and what you think is right." _

_'I don't think that people should always do what I want, but it would sure be nice if, every once in a while, you would trust in my judgment and accept that maybe, just maybe, I might be right on occasion.' _

_"And then there's your insistence on exploring every rock and building on the planets we go to. Every time we find something like this, all you want to do is explore." _

_'I'm an archeologist, Jack. Of course I want to explore. It's my job to investigate all archeological finds. That's what archeologists do! If you don't like it, you shouldn't have me on you team!' _

_"Even when the Goa'uld are breathing down our necks, you want to go off and play with your rocks." _

_'That is totally unfair and you know it! How many times have I been right there beside you, taking out the Goa'uld? I never let my archeological interests distract me from a dangerous situation.' _

_"And, now, all of a sudden, you say that you don't want to?" _

_'That's right, Jack. I didn't want to! I didn't like that place. It felt . . . it felt wrong, wrong and . . . and evil! But you wouldn't listen to me. You never listen to me. You have no respect for the things I say. You have no trust in my judgment. I'm just some pathetic geek to you.' _

_"I am so damn sick of this!" _

_'I'm sick of it too, Jack. I am so sick of the disrespect, the insults, the denigration, the lousy way you treat me. Is that how you treat all your friends, Jack? Is it?' _

_"If you're not whining about one thing, you're whining about something else." _

_'So, is that what you think of me, that I'm nothing but a whiner? I guess so. I guess you have no respect for me at all anymore, do you.' _

_"I don't want to hear about your 'feelings' about this place." _

_'No, you never want to hear about anything from me. You always shut me up or ignore me. What good does it do for me to be on the team when you don't pay attention to anything I say?' _

_"It's all in your head." _

_'Yeah, all in my head, Jack, like when I told you I went to that alternate reality, like when Ma'chello's little parasites infected me, like when Sha're spoke to me through the ribbon device. You always think it's just in my head, not real. God, you really do have a low opinion of me, don't you. Every time I tell you something that's a little hard to believe, you think I'm nuts. Good thing I didn't say anything about what happened in that temple. You'd probably have had McKenzie throw me back in the rubber room.' _

As Daniel thought more and more about Jack's words, his anger changed to a deep, awful, aching pain. He'd begun to develop a headache, but it was a minor irritant compared to the raw wound in his heart. He was finally realizing the truth about the way Jack felt about him, and, God, it hurt. It hurt so much that Daniel wanted to cry out from the pain.

_"So suck it up, stop whining, go do your job, and get out of my hair!"_ Jack's final words rung in his mind like a death knell.

_'Maybe that's a good idea, Jack. Maybe it's time that I did get out of your hair, time that I go do my job somewhere where you won't have to deal with me anymore.' _

Daniel sat down heavily at his desk. He rested his face in his hands and realized, to his surprise, that his cheeks were wet. Dashing away the tears, he straightened. Suddenly coming to a decision, the archeologist rose and walked out of his office.

* * *

General Hammond looked up and saw Daniel standing just outside the doorway. "Come in, Doctor Jackson," he said.

Daniel came into the office and shut the door behind him.

"What can I do for you?" Hammond asked politely, trying to read the young man's expression.

Daniel took a deep breath. "I'd like to request a transfer out of SG-1."

Shocked, the general stared at the archeologist for a moment. "May I ask the reason why?"

"I've come to the conclusion that my skills are no longer needed on the team," Daniel replied, keeping his tone even. "I feel that I will be of more value to the program if I concentrate on what I'm trained for, namely, studying the artifacts and archeological sites that are found on the various worlds. My talents would be of more use doing that than being on a military team like SG-1, to which I can offer little of value."

Hammond studied Daniel closely. The man's nearly emotionless voice and the unusual stiffness of his posture clearly indicated that something was wrong. Something had driven the archeologist to make this drastic decision, and the general wanted to know what it was. He was certain that it had something to do with whatever the "disagreement" was that took place on P7Y-359.

"Did something happen on your last mission to bring you to this decision?" he asked gently.

There was a brief hesitation before Daniel replied, as if he was choosing his words carefully. "It just became apparent to me that I don't belong on SG-1. It and the other teams like it are out there primarily to fight the Goa'uld and to find technology that we can use in that fight. I'm not a soldier, and I know next to nothing about advanced technology. I'm an archeologist, anthropologist and linguist, something that Ja—" Daniel stopped abruptly and took a deep breath, "something that, more often than not, is not needed on missions. Most of the time, I'm just a fifth wheel, serving no real purpose."

Hammond leaned forward, positive now that the disagreement had been between Daniel and the colonel. He'd suspected this before, but hadn't wanted to confront Jack about it, not before giving the colonel time to patch things up. Well, this had now moved beyond a minor concern to something very serious, and it was up to the general to try making one of the SGC's most valuable people see the truth about his place there.

"Doctor Jackson, I know for a fact that what you said is not true," he said in a gentle, fatherly tone. "Your contribution to SG-1 has been invaluable in the past. I could name dozens of missions that would not have been successful if you had not been on the team, and I can name dozens more that would have been disastrous if it weren't for your skills and knowledge out there in the field. Now, I don't know what happened on P7Y-359 to drive you to make this decision, but whatever it was, I think you need to discuss it with Colonel O'Neill and your other teammates and come to a resolution."

Daniel shook his head, fighting to keep his emotions hidden. "There's nothing to discuss, General. I'm pretty certain that Colonel O'Neill will agree with my decision. I'm positive that it's the best thing for everyone." He swallowed tightly. "If . . . if you can't give me a transfer, then I'll have no choice but to tender my resignation."

Hammond stared into Daniel's eyes, seeing there a glimmer of deep pain. He also saw that nothing he said was going to change the young man's mind. With a regretful sigh, the general nodded. "Very well, Doctor Jackson. I will grant your transfer, effective immediately."

Daniel relaxed slightly. "Thank you, sir. If it's okay with you, I'd like to take tomorrow off. I, um, have a lot of things to think about."

"All right, Son. You take as much time as you need."

"Thank you." Daniel walked to the door, then stopped. Keeping his back to the general, he said, "Sir, I . . . I just want to thank you for all the times that you've been there for me and for making me feel like I was a valued member of the SGC despite the fact that I'm not military. Your support and respect has meant a lot to me." He then opened the door and left.

Greatly disturbed by the archeologist's final words, Hammond stared at the closed door for a long moment. He then got on the intercom to his aide. "I want to see Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c in the briefing room ASAP." One way or another, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

Daniel quickly returned to his office and shut the door, then wearily made his way to his chair and sat down. He rubbed his temples in an effort to ease his headache, which had been getting progressively worse. Daniel knew the chances were good that his ex-teammates would be coming to see him as soon as they learned the news. Sam and Teal'c would no doubt try to talk him out of it. As for Jack, he'd probably be steamed at first, but, in the end, he would decide that he was better off without Daniel on his team. He'd made it abundantly clear that Daniel was nothing more than an irritant to him, a pain in the ass, as he'd said more than once. He didn't want or need Daniel. He'd be happier with another soldier on the team, someone with skills that the Air Force colonel could value and appreciate.

Ruthlessly shoving his grief down into a dark corner of his heart, Daniel took a few ibuprofen and tried to focus on work.

* * *

"What's this all about?" Jack asked as he entered the briefing room and saw Sam and Teal'c there.

"I don't know, sir," the major replied. "I was just told that the general wanted to see us."

The members of SG-1 took their usual seats at the table. The general came in a moment later. Sam took one look at the somber expression on the man's face and knew that something was wrong. The fact that Daniel was not with them made her even more worried and puzzled.

"Sir, what's wrong?" she asked. "Where's Daniel?"

Hammond looked at her for a moment, then at Jack and Teal'c. He took his seat at the head of the table. "Doctor Jackson has requested a transfer. As of a few minutes ago, he is no longer a member of SG-1."

"What?" exploded Jack. "I don't believe this! I'll go talk with him, General. We'll get this straightened out right now." He began to rise from his chair.

"Hold it right there, Colonel!" Hammond barked. "You will go nowhere until I'm told what this is all about. I want to know what happened on P7Y-359 to make Doctor Jackson think that he no longer has a place on your team."

"Daniel said that?" Sam asked, distressed.

"Yes, he did, plus a whole lot more, though I got the distinct impression that there was even more left unspoken. Doctor Jackson seems to think that his skills and knowledge are neither wanted nor needed on SG-1."

"Well, that's just stupid, sir," Jack said. "He's just angry right now. He'll come around."

"Is that so? Well, why don't you enlighten me as to the reason why he would be so angry, Colonel. Obviously, the 'disagreement' you told me about was more serious than what you saw fit to reveal."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"Um, it . . . it was a bit more than a disagreement, sir," Jack admitted reluctantly, "more like a, uh, argument. Kind of." _'Yeah, right, except that you were the one doing all the yelling.' _

Hammond frowned. "Go on."

"Well, sir, Daniel had . . . misgivings about the temple," Sam said.

"Misgivings?"

"Daniel Jackson said that it was giving him a feeling of unease," Teal'c explained.

"It was creeping him out," Jack said acerbically. "Gave him the willies."

"He didn't want to enter the temple," Sam told Hammond. "In fact, he said that we should leave the area. He was pretty adamant about it."

Hammond's eyebrows rose in surprise. He looked one-by-one at the remaining members of SG-1. "Did any of you get the same feeling?"

"We did not," Teal'c replied.

"It was just his imagination, General," Jack said. "It was just some empty old temple. There was nothing there. There was no threat."

"Colonel O'Neill, in all the time that you've had Doctor Jackson on your team have you ever known him to say something like that or react in that manner?" Hammond asked.

"Well, no, not that I can remember," Jack admitted. "It's usually the other way around when we find some old ruins or something like that. Daniel wants to stay and explore."

"And he's never before reacted like he did to that temple," Sam added. "Daniel's not the superstitious type, and he doesn't 'creep out' easily. In fact, he usually takes even the weirdest, most unbelievable things in stride."

"Yet, this time, he didn't," Hammond said.

"That is correct, General Hammond," Teal'c confirmed.

"Well, since Doctor Jackson did investigate the temple, I am assuming that you chose to ignore his feelings and advice."

Both Sam and Teal'c looked at Jack, who shifted in his chair again.

"Yeah, uh, that's when he and I got into our . . . argument," he muttered.

"What sort of argument?" Hammond pressed, his tone making it clear that he would not be satisfied with anything less than the complete truth.

"I . . . guess I sort of told him to stop whining, suck it up, and go do his job," Jack muttered, his eyes not meeting his C.O.'s.

Hammond's eyes narrowed. "And what else?"

Jack stared at a spot on the table. "Um, I may also have said something about Daniel's tendency to want to spend most missions like he's on an archeological dig and, uh . . . a few other things about being tired of his attitude."

"I see." The general turned to the others. "Major, you and Teal'c are excused."

"Yes, sir." Sam stood. "Um, sir? Will it be just the three of us on the mission tomorrow?"

Hammond nodded. "Until a replacement for Doctor Jackson is chosen, you will continue your duties as a three-man team."

Sam turned and left, Teal'c behind her. A replacement. Nobody could replace Daniel. Nobody. During the year that Daniel had been ascended, Jonas Quinn had tried to take the archeologist's place, but he had not been nor could he ever be Daniel. There wasn't anyone in the world like Daniel Jackson. He was brilliant, courageous, intuitive, ingenious, and possessed an unlimited capacity for compassion and understanding. He was the heart and conscience of SG-1 and the SGC, their voice of reason and humanity. Without him on their team, there would be a hole that no one could completely fill.

"Teal'c, I'm going to go talk to Daniel," Sam said. "Maybe I can say something to change his mind."

"I, too, would wish to do so, Major Carter," the Jaffa said somberly. "It would be a great loss to SG-1 if Daniel Jackson were to leave."

"Yes, it would. I just hope I can find the right words to say."

"If you are unsuccessful, please inform me, and I shall endeavor to find the correct words to speak."

Sam smiled faintly. "Okay, I'll let you know how things go."

Sam headed for Daniel's office with the hope that she'd be able to change his mind. She had a feeling, though, that the words Daniel needed to hear were ones that only Jack O'Neill could speak. 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"Jack, when did you become a bullying, hard-nosed, short-sighted ass?" Hammond asked bluntly.

Stunned, Jack stared at the general. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Doctor Jackson's skills and knowledge have time and again proven to be priceless to SG-1 and the SGC. Everyone here on this base, hell, on the entire planet owe their lives to him, not to mention the lives he's saved on other worlds due to his tremendous courage and abilities. He's sacrificed his life on more than one occasion for the sake of others, the most recent of which being when he suffered a long, agonizing death after saving millions of Kelownan lives."

Jack closed his eyes for a moment at the memory of seeing his friend ravaged by radiation poisoning. "I know that, sir."

"Then why in God's name do you treat him with such disdain?"

Ashamed, Jack didn't reply. He didn't have an answer or an excuse. He'd been regretting the words he'd spoken to Daniel on P7Y-359 ever since they left his mouth, knowing that Daniel hadn't deserved them. He had absolutely no idea why he'd said those things. They'd just come pouring out of his mouth, the anger and frustration taking control of him. He had seen the expression of pain on the younger man's face, but he had never guessed that Daniel would leave SG-1 because of what he said. Daniel always forgave him. Even when Jack had been undercover to smoke out Maybourne and had said those horrible things to the archeologist, Daniel had eventually forgiven him. But apparently not this time. Why had he been so awful to Daniel? Why had he said those things?

"Sir, I have no excuse for the way I treated Daniel," Jack said finally. "What I said to him was inexcusable. I'd like to go apologize to him, tell him that I didn't mean the things I said."

"I would suggest that you go do that, Colonel. I would also suggest that, in the future, you keep in mind that it is primarily because of Doctor Jackson's particular skills, knowledge and insights that he is such an asset to this program."

"Yes, sir." Jack rose to his feet and left the briefing room, trying to come up with the words that would repair the damage he'd done . . . and save his friendship with Daniel.

* * *

Daniel was sitting at his desk, his aching head resting in his hands. He'd also begun to feel an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, sort of like he felt before coming down with a particularly nasty case of the flu.

"Great, just great," the archeologist muttered. "On top of everything else, I'm getting sick, too. Things just keep getting better and better."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Daniel gave a silent sigh, knowing that it was one of three people. He raised his head. "Come in."

The door slid aside to reveal Sam. "Hey."

"Hey."

She came in all the way. Slowly, she approached the desk.

"I guess you heard the news," Daniel said, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"Yeah. Daniel, about what the colonel said. He—"

"Don't, Sam," Daniel interrupted. "Don't make excuses for him."

"I have no intension of making excuses for him. What he said was inexcusable. To be honest, I can't understand why he said those things."

"I understand it. Sam, this isn't the first time that he's let me know he is not happy with my opinions or the way I do things, and it's not the first time that he's made it clear that I'm supposed to do only what he tells me to. I've known right from the start, from the day I met him, that he is a military man, first, last and always, and that he has little patience for anyone with the label of 'scientist'. He's come to respect you and your opinions because you are also a soldier. I don't have that advantage."

"Daniel, the colonel respects you."

"Does he? I don't think he does, at least not anymore. As the years have passed, he developed nothing but impatience for the things I had to say. It got really bad before I ascended, so bad that—" He broke off, taking a deep breath. "It got to the point where he rarely listened to me anymore, and the few times that he did, more than half the time he wasn't willing to follow my advice, and the rest of the time he acted like he was pissed off because he didn't have another alternative. After I came back, I really thought it was going to be different, and, for a while, it seemed to be. But after what just happened, I can see that it's going right back to how it was before. It's never going to change. So what's the point in me staying on SG-1? I'm obviously no longer of any use to him."

"Daniel, that is simply not true," Sam stated, more than a little upset. "You are so important to us and to SG-1. We missed you every day when you were gone for that year. Jonas did a good job, as good a job as he could, but he wasn't you. He couldn't give us everything that you do. I am positive that if he or anyone else had been with us instead of you when that situation with the Enkarans and the Gadmeer came up, things wouldn't have turned out as well as they did. Either the colonel would have blown up the Gadmeer's ship, destroying an entire race of people, or he'd have failed, and the Enkarans would have died. It was because of your ability to talk with people and your refusal to give up that both civilizations were saved. And that's just one example."

"Yeah, well, that's also an example of how Jack feels about me. He had no faith in me or in my ability to find another solution to the problem. And when I did find one, he never said anything to me afterwards. No pat on the back, no 'good job, Daniel,' nothing. He was too busy being mad that I'd defied him, that I'd gone against his wishes and went to the Gadmeer ship to reason with Lotan. If it had been you or Teal'c who had come up with a solution to the problem, he'd have had nothing but praise for you, because you're warriors, because you're a part of that little club I am forever banned from." Daniel turned away, hiding the bitter tears that had come unbidden to his eyes.

Sam stared at Daniel, shocked and appalled at the deep bitterness she'd heard in his voice and seen on his face. She realized that this was something that had been building in the archeologist for a long, long time.

"Daniel, I can't speak for the colonel, but I have to believe that he does value your skills. There are so many times that we've gotten out of a tough situation because of your abilities. We all owe our lives to you. If it wasn't for you, Earth would probably have been destroyed by Apophis when he came in his ships. It was also you who thought of how to stop that asteroid from hitting the planet. You are a whole lot more than just an archeologist and linguist. The fact that you're not a soldier hasn't prevented you from pulling our butts out of the fire more that once. In fact, you _not_ being a soldier has been a great advantage to the team. Your nonmilitary status gives you the ability to see things in a way that the rest of us can't, and it allows you to do things that I can't."

"Yeah, like pissing Jack off royally without getting put on report or being court-martialed for insubordination," Daniel said without humor. "I have a real talent for that, definitely one of the things I do best."

Sam ignored the biting sarcasm in the archeologist's last sentence. "And why is it that the colonel never has put you on report? He could, you know. You may be a civilian, but you're still working for the military, and you're still under his command. Whenever you disobey his orders on a mission, he could formally reprimand you. If he wanted to, he could have you grounded. He could even recommend that you be thrown out of the SGC. Yet the colonel has never done anything like that. In fact, in the debriefings and in his reports, he always omits or, at the very least, skims over the times that you go against his orders. Why is that?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he just didn't want to lose his whipping boy."

Sam's mouth dropped open. "Daniel, you can't possibly believe that!"

Daniel sighed and rubbed his forehead. The headache had spread, growing increasingly difficult to ignore, and the tightness in his chest was getting really uncomfortable, making it a little hard to breathe. "I don't know what I believe, Sam, but I do know that I can't be a part of SG-1 anymore. As a child and a teenager I got really good at recognizing when I wasn't wanted. It took me a whole lot longer this time, but I finally realized today that I'm not wanted on SG-1, at least not by Jack. I won't stay where I'm not wanted, and I can no longer stay in a situation where a man I used to think was my friend shows me nothing but disrespect and contempt." Daniel's voice wavered on the last sentence. He got up quickly and moved away across the room, hugging himself, again fighting his tears.

Sam's chest tightened with emotion. Damn Jack and his callous words! Didn't he realize how much he had been hurting Daniel? She got up and crossed the room to her best friend's side.

"Daniel, please talk to the colonel. I know that he doesn't think of you the way that you believe he does. He cares about you, and he's still your friend."

"Is he? I really don't think he is," he said, his voice catching. "Please, Sam. I . . . I need to be alone right now."

Sam blinked back the wetness in her eyes. "Okay. We're still heading off to P5C-801 in the morning. Will we see you when we get back?"

The archeologist shook his head. "I'm taking tomorrow off. In fact, I've been thinking that this would be a good time to go away for a few days. It might be best if I'm not here for the next week or so. By the time I get back, you'll have a replacement for me on the team, Jack will be happier, and I can get busy doing the job that I'm being paid to do, the job that I'm actually good at."

Sam hesitated, then abruptly pulled Daniel into a tight hug. The feeling of her arms around him, nearly shattered his control. He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed the lump that was choking him, returning her hug with equal intensity.

"Thank you for being my friend, Sam," he whispered unsteadily.

"I'll always be your friend, Daniel, no matter what," she told him, losing her battle with her tears. She pulled away and left before he could see them, feeling a crack a mile wide open in her heart.

* * *

Jack slowly approached Daniel's office, still not knowing what he was going to say. He'd never been good at words, and he was even worse at apologies. Oh, he could say 'I'm sorry' if he really tried hard enough. He'd spoken those words more than once to Daniel. But 'I'm sorry' wasn't going to be enough this time, not nearly enough.

As the colonel drew close to Daniel's office, he heard the voice of his second in command from inside. Apparently, the major had come to try talking the archeologist into returning to SG-1. Though he knew he really shouldn't, Jack took up a position to the right of the door and listened in on the conversation.

"Daniel, I can't speak for the colonel, but I have to believe that he does value your skills," Sam was saying. "There are so many times that we've gotten out of a tough situation because of your abilities. We all owe our lives to you."

_'More than once,'_ Jack thought to himself. _'None of us would be here if it wasn't for Daniel. He may not be military, but when the going gets tough, he is a good soldier. He's become a pretty good shot, too.'_ He turned his attention back to what Carter was saying.

"You are a whole lot more than just an archeologist and linguist. The fact that you're not a soldier hasn't prevented you from pulling our butts out of the fire more that once. In fact, you _not_ being a soldier has been a great advantage to the team. Your nonmilitary status gives you the ability to see things in a way that the rest of us can't, and it allows you to do things that I can't."

"Yeah, like pissing Jack off royally without getting put on report or being court-martialed for insubordination," Daniel said. "I have a real talent for that, definitely one of the things I do best."

Jack smiled faintly. _'You got that right, Danny Boy. You're a champ at it.' _

"And why is it that the colonel never has put you on report?" Sam asked.

As the major was talking about the fact that Jack had never filed a reprimand against Daniel, the colonel thought about what she was saying. She was right. He had the authority to write formal reprimands in Daniel's record, ground him, even get him fired. But he never took any official action, no matter how many times Daniel defied his orders. Why? Because, even though Daniel could be a royal pain in the butt, he was also a loyal friend and a valuable member of SG-1. Having Daniel on his team was worth all the trouble, all the headaches, all the grief that went with having a mule-headed, opinionated, overly curious, disobedient, way-too-brilliant-for-his-own-good civilian whose desire to do the right thing all the time could be damned inconvenient in situations where tough choices had to be made. He'd never filed a reprimand against Daniel because it was something he hadn't wanted to do.

Jack was pulled from his thoughts by Daniel's answer to Sam's question about why Jack had never formally reprimanded him.

"I don't know. Maybe he just didn't want to lose his whipping boy."

Jack felt pain spear though his chest at those words. _'Ah, God, Danny. Please don't say you really think that.'_ Daniel's next words sent Jack's heart plummeting into his shoes.

"I don't know what I believe, Sam, but I do know that I can't be a part of SG-1 anymore. As a child and a teenager, I got really good at recognizing when I wasn't wanted. It took me a whole lot longer this time, but I finally realized today that I'm not wanted on SG-1, at least not by Jack. I won't stay where I'm not wanted, and I can no longer stay in a situation where a man I used to think was my friend shows me nothing but disrespect and contempt."

The archeologist's last sentence made Jack feel as if someone had taken a crowbar to his chest. He closed his eyes, cursing himself for causing this. He now realized how much every derogatory remark, every show of disrespect that Jack had aimed at Daniel had hurt the younger man. _'Used to think was my friend.'_ Those words hurt Jack most of all. Did Daniel really believe that Jack was no longer his friend?

Jack's attention snapped back to the conversation.

". . . know that he doesn't think of you the way that you believe he does. He cares about you, and he's still your friend," Sam was saying.

Daniel answered in a voice so full of anguish that it tore Jack up inside. "Is he? I really don't think he is."

_'Oh, Daniel. I am your friend. Please don't believe that's gone,'_ the colonel begged silently.

Hearing Daniel say that he wanted to be alone, Jack moved away from the door. He leaned back against the wall a few feet away.

_'Well, Jack old boy, you really screwed up this time. Your best friend is in there thinking that you're not his friend anymore and believes that you have zero respect for him. So, what are you going to do to fix this? You'd better be prepared to do some serious butt kissing. Better hope the knees can take it.' _

Just then, Sam came out, shutting the door behind her. She spied Jack almost immediately. The anger that darkened her face – which Jack also noted was wet with tears – clued him in on the fact that she'd quite happily inflict some serious bodily harm upon his person if it wouldn't get her thrown in the brig and court-martialed. She marched up to him.

"Permission to speak freely, sir," she said stiffly, standing at attention.

_'Uh oh. So, are you going to be a man and let her say her peace or will you hide behind the eagles on your uniform?'_ The colonel decided that, since he deserved a tongue-lashing, he might as well let the major have a go at him. He signed wearily. "Yeah, go ahead, Carter. Hit me with both barrels."

Permission given, Sam did what she had never before even considered doing with a superior officer. She let him have it, right between the eyes. "Sometimes, you can be a real son of a bitch," she snapped venomously.

Jack drew back as if she'd punched him, stunned by her words. Not that he hadn't been called that before. Daniel had said the same thing once. But Jack had never expected to hear his second in command say it, especially not with that level of animosity. "Wow. So, why don't you stop beating around the bush and tell me what you _really_ think of me?"

Sam drew a step closer. "Did you ever stop to think about how much you were hurting Daniel every time you belittled him, or insulted him, or made him feel like his opinions didn't count for anything? If I'd been in Daniel's shoes on some of those occasions, I'd either have decked you or left SG-1. But Daniel just stood and took it. He let you verbally beat him up, then he picked himself up off the ground and carried on, forgiving you every time, every single time. I don't think there are more than a handful of men on this planet who would take that kind of abuse from someone who is supposed to be his friend without striking back. Well, now, he's finally had enough. You finally broke the camel's back, not to mention Daniel's heart. We've lost him. He'll no longer be out there with us to offer his wisdom, or his insights, or his incredible knowledge. He won't be there to help us when we need him, to put us back on the path of morality when we let our military shortsightedness lead us into doing something we have no right to do. When we need a voice to speak for us, there won't be one. When we need someone to find the answer to an impossible riddle, there will be no one to turn to." Her voice began to shake. "And when we need someone to be our heart, and our soul, and the voice of our conscience, we'll find nothing but silence." She gave him a look that would have sent a bull elephant running for cover. "I really hope you're happy with yourself, _sir_." Then she spun on her heels and strode away, nearly running.

Jack watched her leave, feeling like he'd just been kicked in the groin. He also felt like he was intimately related to a snake's underbelly. He deserved every one of Sam's words. Jack found himself thinking about the past years with Daniel, remembering all the times that he'd let his temper get the best of him and verbally struck out at his friend. Yes, it was true that the archeologist could try his patience like no one else, that the differences in Daniel's viewpoints and his stubborn insistence on doing things the way he thought they should be done often rubbed Jack the wrong way, but he was also someone you could truly count upon when things turned ugly, a man who would risk everything to save his teammates. He deserved to be treated with respect and honor, not denigrated, insulted and yelled at. More than that, he was a true friend, someone who had always been there for Jack, no matter what.

Jack had spent a long, lonely year without Daniel. During that year he'd really come to realize how important his friend's presence in his life had been. Without Daniel there at his side, it was like there was a gapping hole in his existence, a void that could not be filled. When they got Daniel back, Jack had felt whole again. Yet he'd just ruined it all with his stupid temper and big mouth. If he didn't do something, he was going to lose Daniel again.

Before he had a chance to do anything, he spied Teal'c coming toward him, and, for the first time since Teal'c betrayed Apophis, Jack actually feared that the Jaffa would strike him. Judging by the look on the man's face, he was more than a little angry, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who the subject of that anger was.

Teal'c came to a halt before Jack. "O'Neill," he almost growled. "I would wish to speak with you regarding Daniel Jackson."

"Go right ahead, Teal'c. Carter just finished verbally drawing and quartering me. You might as well finish the job. All I ask is that you don't break any bones."

The Jaffa stared at him as if thinking it over. "I do not intend to physically harm you, O'Neill. If I did, you would now be in the infirmary with _multiple_ broken bones. I was driven to great anger on P7Y-359, and it took all of my training as a Jaffa not to let it control me."

"Thank God for that good old Jaffa training," Jack muttered.

"I have just spoken with Major Carter, who is extremely distressed by this matter, as am I. She told me some of what Daniel Jackson stated to her. I must now ask permission to speak openly to you."

Jack braced himself and gave a nod of consent.

"Daniel Jackson is a great warrior and scholar who has suffered much in our fight against the Goa'uld, more than almost any other individual on this world. He has displayed unfailing strength and courage and has proven himself to be of unequaled value in many regards. If he was a Jaffa, with a Jaffa's training and physical strength, he would very likely become a First Prime. There is only one thing that would prevent him from doing so, and it is the very thing that makes him a greater man than any Jaffa I have ever known, with the possible exception of Master Bra'tac. That thing is the strength of his principles and his commitment to doing what he knows to be right. I have never known such a man as he."

"Neither have I, Teal'c," Jack said quietly.

The Jaffa stared at him. "Yet your words and actions do not pay tribute to Daniel Jackson's many valuable skills and qualities. When I was First Prime of Apophis, I would never have disrespected a man under my command as you have disrespected Daniel Jackson, even one who had committed a grievous error. I often praised the Jaffa under my command if they performed with exceptional ability, yet I have rarely heard you give Daniel Jackson words of praise when you were in his presence." He straightened to his full height, his gaze piercing through the colonel. "Your conduct has been without honor."

Jack almost winced at Teal'c last sentence. That was about the worst insult the Jaffa could speak. "I know, Teal'c," he admitted in a tired voice.

The Jaffa stared at him a while longer. "Then you must seek to redeem yourself in the eyes of Daniel Jackson, for, if you do not, I can no longer be under your command." With those final words, Teal'c turned on his heels and walked back the way he came.

Jack rubbed his hands wearily over his face. Then, straightening his shoulders and swallowing his pride, he knocked on the door of Daniel's office. 


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

There was a pause before Daniel's voice bid Jack to enter. The deep pain that flashed in the archeologist's eyes upon seeing Jack made the colonel feel even more like a bastard. Daniel turned away from him, focusing his gaze on his computer screen. His back was stiff, his whole attitude screaming, "Go away!" But Jack wasn't about to listen. Instead, he stepped further into the room and shut the door.

"Daniel, I. . . . Um, look, what I said on the planet, I didn't mean those things. I—"

"Didn't you, Jack?" Daniel interrupted, his voice tight. "You sounded pretty sincere to me."

"No. I was angry, on edge. I don't know why, I just was. I'm sorry I said those things, Daniel. I wish I could take them all back, but I can't. I know you think that I don't respect you, but I do. I don't want you to leave SG-1. We need you on the team. You're too valuable for us to lose."

Daniel finally turned to Jack, and what he saw in the archeologist's eyes made his heart sink like a stone.

Daniel rose to his feet. "Valuable?" he said in a dangerously quiet voice. "_Respect?_ Was it respect you showed me every time you disregarded my input, ignored what I was saying, and told me to be quiet and do what you told me to? All the times you refused to believe me, refused even to consider what I was telling you, was that respect? Was it respect when you dismissed my claim that I'd been to an alternate reality, thinking instead that I was delusional? Were you being respectful when your first reaction to me telling you about the message Sha're sent through the ribbon device was to suggest that I'd imagined the whole thing? What about Reese, Jack? You never once believed that I could talk her into turning off the Replicators. You had no faith in me. All you wanted to do was blow her away. And let's not forget the Enkarans and the Gadmeer. Where was your trust and respect for me when I told you that I thought there was another way to solve the problem other than blowing the entire Gadmeer civilization to hell?! You wouldn't even give me the chance to try! I had to go behind your back and just about let myself get blown up in the process! And then there's that whole situation on Euronda, when you ignored everything I was trying to tell you, not even giving me the common courtesy of allowing me to state my concerns. Instead, you insulted and belittled me repeatedly, humiliating me in front of an entire roomful of people. Is that your idea of respect?!"

Each of Daniel's bitter, angry words were like lashes on Jack's soul, leaving raw, bleeding wounds. The last example cut deepest of all, for he was still ashamed by his actions on that occasion. Not only did he treat Daniel terribly, he also made a colossal error in judgment because he was too stubborn and short-sighted to see past his damned military instincts and look at the situation from Daniel's point of view.

Daniel continued, his voice shaking with repressed tears. "And what about Machello's little Goa'uld killers, Jack? You didn't even try to find out if there was some external force causing my hallucinations. Instead, you just accepted the belief that I was nuts and let McKenzie lock me up in that padded room, abandoning me there, leaving me alone, and scared, and fighting for my sanity. What that respect, Jack? Was that a display of how _valuable_ I am to you?"

Jack almost cried out from the pain caused by the archeologist's statement. Of all the things he'd done to hurt Daniel, leaving his friend in that mental facility had been the worst. For as long as he lived, he would never forgive himself for not pursuing every possible cause for what was happening to his friend and leaving Daniel alone in that awful place. And what made it even worse was the knowledge that, if their positions had been reversed, Daniel would not have rested until he found out what was causing the illness. He would have instantly believed that something unknown and deadly was the cause. And he would never have left Jack alone in that place unless he was going off to find the answers, to help his friend.

"How can you stand there and say that I'm valuable to you when you're rarely willing to accept my advice or recommendations without acting like you're pissed about it?" Daniel raged. "It's become abundantly clear to me that my knowledge and skills are of no value to you except for my ability to kill the enemy. When I try to explain something to you, you turn a deaf ear. When I attempt to reason things out, you have no patience to let me work. You'd rather I be a good, obedient soldier who does nothing but follow orders than a thinking, feeling human being who only wants to do what's right!"

"Daniel, that's not true! I—"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Daniel screamed, his chest heaving. "When was the last time you told me that I'd done a good job? When was the last time you really appreciated my abilities as an archeologist and a linguist? And when, Jack, when did you ever tell me that you valued my friendship, that you actually gave a damn about me? Where was that so called friendship every time you hurt me with your words, with your lack of respect, and trust, and faith in me? I _died_, Jack! I was lying there, dying, and you couldn't even tell me how you felt about me. Instead, you called me a pain in the ass, then oh so grudgingly admitted that maybe, possibly, you _might_ have admired me just a little. Well, thank you so very much, Jack. Those are just the words that a man dying in agony wants to hear!"

Jack staggered back as if Daniel had physically struck him, certain that, if he looked down at his chest, he'd see a knife sticking out of his heart. Daniel's last words had cut past every last one of his defenses and pierced straight into his soul. He felt like the worse kind of slime. Daniel was right. He wasn't a friend. Nobody would hurt a friend like he'd hurt Daniel.

Daniel glared at Jack, seeing the man's face turn white, anguish filling his eyes. He knew that he was being unfair, that Jack didn't deserve many of the things he was saying, but the rage had taken control of him, and he didn't know how to stop it. Years of pain and repressed anger had risen to the surface and were boiling over uncontrollably. The physical pain in his head was now almost blinding, and his chest felt like it was on fire, every breath sending spears of agony through him. A terrible weakness was creeping through his body, making him feel light-headed and shaky. Daniel ignored it all as he continued to let his rage overflow.

"I've had it, Jack. I've had enough. I'm tired of being verbally beaten up, of being ignored, ridiculed, insulted and made to feel like I'm worthless. So, just get the hell out of my office and out of my life!"

Jack felt his heart shatter into a million pieces as he realized that no amount of words were going to fix what he had done. He had destroyed his friendship with Daniel. Overwhelmed by the grief and guilt of that realization, Jack began to turn away. But, in the next instant, those feelings were supplanted by fear and horror as a terrible cry of pain tore from Daniel's throat. He staggered, his hands going to his head. Then, before Jack could reach him, he crumpled into a boneless heap on the floor.

"Daniel!" Jack fell to his knees beside the archeologist, alarmed at the parlor of his friend's skin. Pressing his fingers against the younger man's carotid artery, he felt Daniel's pulse beating with a weak, rapid and erratic cadence. Jack rushed to the phone and called for a medical team. Then he returned to Daniel's side, gathering his fallen friend into his arms.

"Hang on, Daniel. Just hang on," he pleaded. "God, don't you do this to me. Don't you dare even _think_ of dying! I'm not going to let you leave again. I let you go once, but not again, never again."

Janet and the medical team soon came hurrying into the room. "What happened?" she demanded to know, kneeling at Daniel's side to check is vitals.

"I don't know," Jack replied. "We were . . . we were arguing, then he just suddenly cried out like he was in pain and collapsed. He grabbed his head before he fell."

Janet was checking Daniel's pupils. "Okay, we need to get him to the infirmary, find out what's going on."

Daniel was loaded onto a gurney and quickly wheeled to the infirmary, with Jack hot on the heels of the medical team. Moments later, Sam and Teal'c came rushing in.

"What happened?" Sam asked, fear in her voice.

"Daniel collapsed," Jack told her. "He acted like he was in terrible pain. One second, he was standing there, and, the next, he was down."

The three members of SG-1 waited for some news on their fallen comrade. They had all been ushered out of the infirmary and were now waiting just outside.

Another hour and a half passed before the doctor appeared. Jack, Sam and Teal'c moved toward her.

"What's wrong with him?" the colonel asked, the strain in his voice apparent. He'd been pacing like a caged tiger for the past forty-five minutes.

"I wish I knew," the doctor replied with a sigh. "I have no explanation for what's happening. Daniel's tests indicate the first stages of massive organ failure. His heart, lungs, kidneys and every other major organ in his body seem to be weakening. There's also inflamation in the brain tissue."

"Oh my God," Sam whispered. "You have no idea what's causing it?"

Janet shook her head. "There are still tests that I need to run, and all the results of the ones I ordered have not come back yet, but, so far, I can find no sign of any kind of toxin, bacteria or virus. I'll know more when all the tests are complete. I don't understand it. There was no sign of any problem when I did the post-mission physical."

"What are his chances?" Jack asked, feeling a bone-deep fear creep through him.

"I can't say yet, not until I know more about what is causing this, but. . . ."

"But what?"

"If we can't stop what's happening, Daniel will die."

The doctor's words sent a brief moment of panic through Jack. _'No! This is __**not**__ happening! Daniel is not gonna die!' _ He looked at the doctor. "Can we see him?"

"For a while. He needs rest. I've given him something for the pain, but he's still hurting."

They entered the infirmary, all of them except Janet heading over to Daniel's bed. Jack hung back as Sam and Teal'c stepped up to their friend. There was a frown of pain on the archeologist's pale face, and his eyes were closed.

"Daniel?" Sam said, her voice shaking only slightly.

Daniel's eyes fluttered open. "Hey, Sam. Looks like I just can't stay out of this infirmary, huh."

Sam gave him a gentle smile. "Yeah, you do seem to be attached to this place. Got something going on with one of the nurses?"

Daniel chuckled and smiled weakly. "Ah, you figured out my secret. Lieutenant Parker and I have been dating for a few months now."

The comment brought a wider smile to Sam's lips. Lieutenant _John_ Parker was one of the orderlies, and rumor had it that he liked Daniel a whole lot more than any man in the U.S. Military should like another man. When Daniel first found out about the rumor, he'd been terribly embarrassed and uncomfortable and had tended to avoid the lieutenant whenever possible. Jack had had a lot of fun teasing the poor archeologist about the whole thing . . . that is until he found out that there were also rumors that he and Daniel were secretly lovers. Then it hadn't been so funny.

Sam's face grew serious. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess, all things considered." Daniel looked into Sam's eyes, his gaze telling her that he knew how serious his condition was. "Being here again shouldn't really surprise me. It seems like most of my time off work is spent here. Maybe Jack's right. I really do need to get a life outside the SGC."

"Well, as soon as you're out of here, we'll have to do something about that," Sam told him in a falsely cheerful voice. "Hey, I'll even occasionally fill in for that girlfriend you don't have."

"That would be nice." Daniel's gaze fell from hers.

"You're going to be okay, Daniel," she assured him, trying to convince herself as much as him. "Janet will figure out what's causing this and find a cure."

"Indeed. If a cure can be found, I have confidence that Doctor Fraiser will discover it. She is an excellent physician," Teal'c stated.

The archeologist nodded. His eyes flickered toward Jack then quickly looked away, but even that brief look had been filled with emotional pain. "I'm, uh, pretty tired. Maybe I should get some sleep," he said, addressing his remark to Sam and Teal'c. "I'll see you later?"

"We will return when you are more rested, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied.

Sam leaned over and pressed a kiss to her friend's forehead. "Get some rest. We'll be back in a couple of hours."

Not looking at Jack again, Daniel closed his eyes. As she passed her commanding officer, Sam met his gaze for a long moment, then continued on by. Teal'c also looked at O'Neill, the disapproval evident in his eyes. Jack said nothing. He stood there in silence for several moments, watching Daniel, then he turned on his heel and left the infirmary. He went straight to General Hammond's office. Janet was there, giving the general a report on Daniel's condition.

"So, you believe there is a chance that Doctor Jackson was exposed to something on SG-1's last mission?" Hammond asked her.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Daniel admitted that he hasn't been feeling well since shortly after returning from the planet."

_'Damn. Why didn't he say something?'_ Jack cursed.

"Come in, Colonel," Hammond said upon seeing Jack lingering outside. "Doctor Fraiser has updated me on Doctor Jackson's condition. She thinks it's possible that he was exposed to something on P7Y-359."

"How are you feeling, Colonel?" Janet asked. "Headache, tightness in the chest, weakness or any other symptoms?"

"No, I'm fine."

"All the same, I think that I should run some tests on you, Sam and Teal'c, just to make sure."

Jack turned to the general. "Sir, if Daniel was exposed to something on that planet, then I think we should go back there and see if we can figure out what it was."

"Well, let's wait to see what your test results turn up."

Jack was ushered back to the infirmary, along with Sam and Teal'c. What seemed like a quart of blood was drawn from each of them, then they were run through a bunch of tests and poked and prodded incessantly.

"Well, other than some mild chemical imbalance, which I could attribute to other factors, you all seem to be fine," Janet announced a while later. "Most of the bloodwork's not back yet, but, from what I can see, you're all healthy."

"So, if Daniel's illness was caused by something on the planet, then it's something that only he was exposed to," Sam reasoned.

"Daniel Jackson was the only one among us who entered the temple," Teal'c pointed out.

"Yeah, and, knowing Daniel, he probably touched everything in that place," Jack added.

"Well, as soon as he wakes up, I'll ask him," Janet said.

"I'm awake," came a voice from across the room.

The others went over to him.

"You should be sleeping, Daniel," Janet told him gently.

"I can't."

"Do you need me to increase your pain medication?"

Daniel shook his head. "It's okay. It's not the pain that's keeping me awake."

Sam studied her friend. He looked even paler than he had before. He also appeared to be having some difficulty breathing. Janet was looking at the monitor beside his bed, a frown on her face.

"Your O2 Sat is down," she announced. "We're going to have to put a cannula on you. How hard is it getting for you to breathe?"

"Not too bad yet, harder than a while ago." He attempted to draw in a deeper breath. "Can I sit up? It's easier when I'm upright."

The back of Daniel's bed was raised until he was in a half-reclining position. A nurse put a nasal cannula on him, and Janet increased his pain medication, despite what he'd said about not needing it.

"Daniel, is it possible that you were exposed to something in that temple?" Sam asked.

"I guess it's possible, though, despite what Jack thinks, I didn't touch anything. I felt too . . ." his eyes darted Jack's way, "too uncomfortable in there."

"Uncomfortable?" Janet enquired.

Yet again, Daniel's eyes shifted toward Jack, then away.

"Daniel Jackson told us that the temple gave him an uneasy feeling," Teal'c said when it appeared that the archeologist was not going to respond.

"Uneasy feeling?" Janet looked at her patient. "How so?"

Daniel's gaze was focused on his hands, which were folded in his lap. "It was probably nothing, just my overactive imagination. That's what Jack thought." None of them missed the faint hint of anger in the linguist's voice.

"Well, maybe I was wrong," Jack said, holding out the proverbial olive branch. "Maybe you did sense something. It wouldn't be the first time that you were right and I was wrong."

Surprised, Daniel met the colonel's eyes for a moment. Then his gaze dropped back to his clasped hands. "There was this . . . this feeling of wrongness. It made my skin crawl," he admitted in a low voice. "It got worse the closer we got to the temple. It was really bad in the temple itself, like there was a dark presence all around me, something evil. I was jumping at my own shadow."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked, alarmed at what her friend had revealed.

Daniel hesitated for a several seconds. "I didn't want you to think I was going crazy again," he murmured almost inaudibly.

Sam's eyes closed briefly at the terrible memory of Daniel's time in the mental facility. "Oh, Daniel. We wouldn't have thought that."

"Maybe _you_ wouldn't have, but. . . ." Daniel didn't finish the statement.

_'But I would have,'_ Jack silently finished for him. He gave an equally silent curse. "Well, we're listening now, Daniel, and no one here is going to think that you're crazy," he stated aloud. "Did anything happen in the temple?"

"I, um, thought I heard a voice," Daniel admitted reluctantly. "It sounded angry. I couldn't understand what it was saying. I felt something touch me, something cold and . . . and malevolent."

"You should have told us of this experience, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated. "It is possible that some form of life that we cannot see was residing in the temple and may have been angered by your presence."

Daniel's head finally lifted, and he looked at them. "So, why was I the only one who could feel it?"

"Well, it's possible that you were the only one sensitive to its presence," Sam deduced. "Perhaps only a few people are capable of sensing it."

"So, what does this mean, that the temple is haunted or something?" Jack asked, not liking the sound of any of this.

"I don't know, sir. We are all very well aware that there are lifeforms out there that are invisible to us. The Reetou are a perfect example, and the Nox can make themselves and others invisible."

"The Ancients are invisible as well, unless they choose to show themselves," Teal'c added, looking at Daniel meaningfully.

"So, we need to go back to that planet, find this whatever it is, and find out if it did something to Daniel," Jack said.

"No," Daniel said. "You can't go back there, not ever."

"Daniel, we have to find out what made you sick," Sam told him.

The archeologist shook his head. "It's too dangerous. You could get sick, too, especially if you go in the temple."

"You let us worry about that," Jack told him.

"No! I don't want any of you getting sick. It's bad enough that—" His voice broke off abruptly as he gasped for breath. His face turned ashen, hands clutching at his chest. An alarm sounded on the life signs monitor.

Janet leapt forward. "What's happening, Daniel? What do you feel?"

"Chest hurts," Daniel gasped. "Feels heavy, like weight sitting on it. Heart feels like it's being squeezed. Hard to breathe."

"Shh. Calm down. You're experiencing a severe episode of atrial fibrillation. Your heart is skipping beats, having a hard time maintaining a steady rhythm. Your lungs are also struggling to pull in enough air. Just relax. Try to take slow, deep breaths."

Daniel attempted to do as Janet said and managed to draw in a deeper breath, then another one as he pushed past the alarming feeling in his chest. Slowly, his heart rate stabilized and his breathing grew easier.

"Good, that's good, Daniel. Okay, you need to rest. I'm going to lower the bed, but only partway. Please try to get some sleep." Janet lowered the back of the bed about a foot, then she shooed everyone out of the infirmary.

"Janet?" Sam said, seeing the expression of deep concern on the physician's face.

"It's not good," Janet admitted. "Daniel's oxygen saturation levels are dropping. As you can see, he's having difficulty breathing, and his heart is having a progressively harder time doing its job. I'm afraid that he's going to have more bad episodes like that as time goes on. If the functioning of his kidneys is decreasing at the same rate as his heart and lungs, we'll have to put him on dialysis soon. And then there are the effects to his liver to worry about. I'm concerned by the marked decrease in his condition after so short a time. Whatever is causing this, it's moving fast."

"We must return to P7Y-359 to determine what has caused Daniel Jackson's illness," Teal'c stated, looking as if he was going to insist on it.

"I agree," Jack said. "If some invisible . . . thing did this to him, then I'm damn well going to find out why and how it can be reversed."

"As Chief Medical Officer, I cannot condone your return to that planet," Janet said. "Daniel is right. You would be putting yourselves at risk by going there."

"So, we're supposed to just sit back and do nothing as Daniel slowly dies?" Jack asked angrily. "I don't think so."

"If we're right about this, Daniel got sick because he went into the temple. As long as we don't go in there, we should be okay," Sam reasoned. "Maybe if something is there, we could talk to it, attempt to reason with it. We have to try."

"Let's go talk to Hammond," Jack said.

The SG-1 teammates went to the general's office.

"Sir, request permission to go back to P7Y-359," Jack immediately said.

General Hammond looked at the expressions on the faces of the people in his office, seeing both worry and determination there. "Have you determined that the cause of Doctor Jackson's illness is on the planet?"

"We think that the area wasn't as abandoned as we originally believed," the colonel told him.

"Daniel admitted that he felt a presence in the temple," Sam explained.

The general's eyebrows rose. "A presence?"

Jack nodded shortly. "Yeah, and we want to find out what it was and if it's what made him sick."

"What does Doctor Fraiser think about this?"

"She doesn't know what to think, General. She has no answer for what's happening to Daniel. We don't have an answer either, but there's a good chance that, if we go back to P7Y-359, we'll find one." Jack met Hammond's eyes. "Please, sir. Daniel is running out of time."

Hammond gave a quiet sigh. "All right, you have a go. But I want you to take every precaution to avoid being exposed to the same thing that Doctor Jackson was. To be on the safe side, wear Hazmat suits, and do not under any circumstances touch anything without proper protection."

"Yes, sir."

A short while later, the three healthy members of SG-1 were suited up and waiting for the gate to engage. They had with them containers used for transporting hazardous materials just in case they found something that they wanted to take back to Earth.

As SG-1 walked through the gate to P7Y-359, they all shared a single desire, that something they found would save their friend and teammate.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Sam, Jack and Teal'c came out the other side of the Stargate and immediately noticed that there had been recent activity in the area.

"These tracks are no more than an hour old," Teal'c stated.

"They seem to be heading down the path to the temple," Sam said.

Jack stepped forward. "Then let's go see what's going on."

They moved down the path with caution, keeping a sharp eye out. As they drew near the temple, they all heard what sounded like chanting. Soon, the ruins came into sight, and they stopped in their tracks. Twenty men were slowly making their way into the temple. Each one of them was holding what looked like a glowing red crystal clutched in both hands and was repeating the same phrase over and over again. The men all wore long, dark brown cloaks and headdresses made with beads, feathers and what looked like small animal bones.

"It looks like some kind of religious ceremony, sir," Sam commented. "I wonder what those crystals are."

"Well, whatever they are and whatever those guys are doing, maybe they can tell us what's wrong with Daniel. Since they're not wearing any protective clothing, I'd say that it's probably safe for us to take our helmets off. We wouldn't want to scare the natives."

The SG-1 members removed the helmets of their Hazmat suits and approached the temple. Not noticing their presence, the natives continued into the temple. The sound of their chanting grew louder, carrying on for a couple of minutes, then everything grew silent. A short while later, the men came out of the temple. The crystals they carried were no longer glowing.

The moment the men caught sight of SG-1, they stopped. Jack stepped forward.

"Uh, hey there. How ya doing?" he greeted. The men all looked at each other. "We came through the Stargate, that, um, big circle thing." Another pause. "Do you understand anything I'm saying?"

The oldest of the men stepped forward. "You are not of our people," he said. "From where do you come?"

"We're from a planet called Earth," Sam replied. "We're explorers."

"Have you come to give tribute to Bendrak?"

"Bendrak?" Jack repeated.

"The great spirit who lives in this place. Each year at this time, Bendrak demands tribute. If you do not have tribute you must leave this place immediately."

"Why?"

"Because Bendrak will grow angry and smite you."

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Smite us?" He shook his head slightly. "Look, we were here earlier today with another person. This other person went into the temple and, now, he's sick. He—"

"He went into the temple without tribute?" the native fairly screeched. The other men murmured among themselves, looking scared.

"Well, uh, yeah. We didn't know about this Benny guy. We thought the temple was abandoned."

The natives were growing quite agitated. "Your companion insulted Bendrak by entering his temple without tribute. You must leave! You must leave now or Bendrak will become wrathful and kill us all!" the spokesman for the group said.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Nobody's leaving until we get some answers. We need to find a cure for our friend."

The man was shaking his head rapidly. "There is no cure. Your friend is already dead by now. Bendrak has stolen his life power. Go now or you will share his fate!"

That having been said, the natives fled away down the path, clearly terrified. Jack, Sam and Teal'c all looked at each other.

"Well, Benny or no Benny, I'm going to get to the bottom of this," the colonel declared. He strode toward the temple.

"Sir! I really don't think you should go in there," Sam objected. "If there is something in there that made Daniel sick, it could happen to you, too. Those natives were scared for a reason."

"We came here to find out what happened to Daniel and find a way to cure him, and that's what I intend to do, Major."

Jack took another step toward the temple, then stopped as an icy cold wind swept around them.

"O'Neill! There is something in the temple!" Teal'c warned.

Jack looked up and saw what looked like an inky shadow hovering in the doorway. Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Sir, we need to get out of here. Now," Sam insisted.

All of Jack's instincts were telling him she was right. "Okay, fall back. Let's get to the Stargate."

They quickly retreated down the path to the gate.

"The presence does not appear to be following us," Teal'c said.

"Maybe it needs to stay near the temple," Sam insisted.

Jack looked with a careful eye at the vegetation surrounding them. "Or maybe it's just not showing itself. What was that thing? Any ideas?"

"No, sir, but, whatever it is, I'm certain it's responsible for Daniel's illness. We should have listened to him, Colonel. We should have listened to Daniel when he tried to warn us. It's our fault that he's ill."

A sick feeling grew in the pit of Jack's stomach. "No, Carter. You should say what you're really thinking. This is _my_ fault. I'm the one responsible for this. I'm the one who ignored Daniel's warning and made him go into that temple. Once again, I let my temper and stubbornness get the better of me, and these are the consequences of my actions."

Silence reigned for the rest of the trip back to the Stargate. As they exited the other side of the wormhole, they found Hammond waiting for them with an expression of hope on his face.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"Daniel was right, sir," Jack told him, regret and guilt heavy in his voice. "We should have listened to him."

After removing their hazmat suits, SG-1 quickly debriefed the general.

"So, you're certain that this Bendrak is what caused Doctor Jackson's illness?" Hammond asked.

"Yes, sir," Sam replied. "The natives were obviously terrified of it. By what they said, I'd guess that they have some experience with that thing's anger. It's probably why they bring it tribute, to prevent it from attacking them."

"And you have no idea what those red crystals were?"

"None, sir. The fact that they were giving off light when the natives entered the temple but weren't when the natives left seems to indicate that the crystals were generating some kind of energy that was drained from them, possibly by Bendrak."

"The man who spoke to us said that Bendrak had stolen Daniel Jackson's life power," Teal'c said. "If this creature could remove the energy from those crystals, could it not be that it can also remove energy from a living body?"

Sam frowned. "Um, yeah, I guess. But, if that's the case, why didn't Daniel die immediately? The energy from those crystals was completely drained within a couple of minutes. Daniel was in that temple for a lot longer than that, yet he didn't start showing symptoms until later on." Sam remembered something. "That native seemed to think that Daniel would already be dead."

"Well, he's not. He's still alive," Jack said rather harshly.

"But what if he shouldn't be? What if whatever it is that Bendrak does to people usually acts a lot faster? Daniel may only be alive now because there's something about our physiology that enables us to survive longer." A look of excitement came to her face. "If Janet could determine any differences between our physiology and that of the natives, it might give her a clue as to what will save Daniel's life!"

"Good thinking, Major," General Hammond said. He turned to Jack. "Do you think that you could convince one of the natives to come here?"

"I don't know, sir, but I can damn well try, even if I have to drag one of them kicking and screaming through the gate."

"We don't want an incident, Colonel. Go back through with SG-9. Lieutenant Sayers has plenty of experience negotiating with alien cultures. He may be able to convince the natives to allow one of their people to come with you. Perhaps if you take along gifts or food you can make a trade."

Sam nodded. "I'd also really like to find out more about those crystals, perhaps study one."

"All right. Teal'c, get together with Lieutenant Sayers and gather some food and anything that you and he think would interest the natives. Major, if there's any kind of equipment that you think you might need, bring it along. Colonel, you and I will brief the other members of SG-9 in fifteen minutes. Everyone meet back in the gate room in one hour. Dismissed."

SG-1 left the briefing room.

"Sir, I want to go see Daniel," Sam said to Jack.

"I, too, wish to see Daniel Jackson before we return to the planet," Teal'c stated.

"Okay, Carter, you go see Daniel now. Teal'c, as soon as you and Sayers are finished gathering what you need, you can go visit him. Tell Daniel that I'll stop by before we leave."

Sam headed to the infirmary. Her eyes went to Daniel as soon as she entered. Janet was at his bedside. She saw the major and approached her.

"How's he doing?" Sam asked quietly, her eyes remaining on the archeologist.

"Not good, I'm afraid. His condition is continuing to deteriorate. He's beginning to show signs of jaundice caused by reduced liver function. The latest batch of tests confirms that all his organs are failing." Janet met Sam's eyes. "His nervous system is being affected. He's losing the ability to move his arms and legs, and it will only be a matter of time before the paralysis extends to the rest of his body." She shook her head helplessly. "I've tried everything I can think of, but nothing is working."

Sam fought back her tears at the dire news. "We may have something that will help." She explained to Janet about what they'd learned and what they were planning on doing.

Janet nodded, a spark of hope in her eyes. "You may be onto something, Sam. If you're right about this, it is very possible that there is a difference in the physiology or body chemistry of the natives that makes them more susceptible to this Bendrak's power. If we can find out what that difference is, I may be able to use the information to boost Daniel's immunity, so to speak."

"Can I go see him?" Sam asked.

"Sure. He's been asking about you. He was very upset when he found out that you went back to the planet. He's worried."

Sam went over to her friend's bedside. At her approach, his eyes opened.

"Sam! Are you all right? What about the others?"

"We're all fine." The major sat on the edge of the bed. "Daniel, you were right all along. There was something there in that temple. We saw it."

"You saw it? Did it hurt you?"

"No, we left as soon as we saw it."

"But you might be sick now, too. You shouldn't have gone there."

Sam shook her head. "We didn't go in the temple, Daniel. We stayed away from it. It never touched us."

The archeologist relaxed slightly. "What did it look like?"

Sam told him about what happened and explained their plan.

"Don't hurt them, Sam. Don't force them to do anything they don't want to."

"We won't hurt them, Daniel, but we need to get one of them back here so that Janet can examine him."

"Only if you can convince one of them to come willingly," the linguist insisted.

"I don't think the colonel is going to take no for an answer, Daniel. He's pretty determined to get one of them here. I know you're worried about the natives, but if this can save your life, we need to do all that we can. We'll take good care of whomever we bring back with us."

"Sam, listen to me. If these people are worshipers of this Bendrak, he may be protecting them. If you threaten them in some way, Bendrak might attack you. You, Jack, Teal'c and SG-9 can't risk your lives just for me. It's not worth it."

Sam took her friend's hand. "It's worth it to us, Daniel. You're our teammate and our friend. The colonel, Teal'c and I are going to do whatever is necessary to find a way to save you."

Daniel shook his head. "Please, Sam. Don't do anything that might get you killed. I can accept my own death. I've faced it enough times that it doesn't scare me anymore. But if something was to happen to one of you. . . ."

Tears welled up into Sam's eyes. "Daniel, please don't ask us to throw away what could be your only chance. We can't just stand by and watch you die if there is something that we can do to help. If you were in the same place, you'd do all that you could. You'd risk your life for any one of us. How can you ask us to do any less?"

Daniel closed his eyes, swallowing tightly. "I just . . . I can't lose you, Sam." He opened his eyes and looked at her. Sam's breath caught at the expression of anguish that she saw there.

"Oh, Daniel," she whispered, feeling a lone tear slip down her face. She pressed his hand to her chest, clasping it in both of hers. "You won't lose me. You won't lose any of us." Sam caressed his cheek. "I have to go now. There are some things I need to gather. Teal'c and the colonel will both be coming by to see you before we head back to the planet." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You get lots of rest, okay? We'll be back as soon as we can."

Sam left the room, trying to regain control of her emotions. She wouldn't admit it to Daniel, but she was scared out of her mind. What if they failed to find a cure for what was wrong with him? She had seen the look in Janet's eyes and knew that the doctor was helpless against this thing that was draining the life from their friend. If they couldn't find the answer within the natives of the planet, then there would be nothing they could do to help him. He would die.

_'No! He can't die!'_ Sam cried silently. _'I can't go through that again.' _

Hastening her steps, Sam made her way to her lab, determined that, one way or another, they were going to find a cure for Daniel.

* * *

Daniel sensed a presence beside his bed. He opened his eyes and saw Teal'c standing there. "Hey, Teal'c. Are you getting ready to leave for P7Y-359?"

"That is correct, Daniel Jackson. Have you been told of what we hope to accomplish?"

"Yeah. Sam filled me in. I told her not to force the natives into cooperating. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"We will endeavor not to harm any of the native people of the planet, but we must encourage one of them to come back with us."

Daniel knew that when Teal'c said "encourage" he meant that they were going to bring one of them back regardless of what it took. "Teal'c, you have to be careful. We don't know how Bendrak would react to any threat posed to the natives. You could put all your lives at risk if you push things too far."

"We are willing to take that risk," the Jaffa stated, as if there was no question that they would put themselves in danger for his sake.

"But I'm not willing to let you take that risk. Risking seven lives for the sake of one makes no sense."

"If it was O'Neill, Major Carter or I who was now ill, would you not be in agreement with this plan?"

Daniel was silent for a moment. "If I couldn't find a way to get the natives to cooperate, then I guess that I'd be willing to temporarily kidnap one of them as long as it didn't result in bloodshed."

"Then why do you insist that we not do the same for you?" When Daniel did not answer, Teal'c looked at him more closely. "Do you believe that your life is of less value than ours?"

Daniel didn't reply for a long time. "You, Jack and Sam are needed in the SGC. Earth needs you in the fight against the Goa'uld. I'm not nearly as important."

Teal'c stared at him. "I do not agree with your assessment. You have great skills that are of need in our battle against the Goa'uld. No other individual in the SGC possesses your great knowledge and expertise. Many missions that we have been on would have been a failure if it were not for you. We would surely have died on more than one occasion if you had not been with us."

"You got along fine without me for the year I was ascended, Teal'c."

"We did not."

"What?"

"We did not 'get along fine' without you, Daniel Jackson. There were times when we almost failed because you were not present to aid us. Jonas Quinn endeavored to gain your knowledge, but he was only partially successful, and he could not match your skills in other regards. We missed you greatly during the year that you were ascended, both as a valued member of SG-1 and as a friend. Since your return, you have once again proven yourself to be a vital asset to the SGC and our continued fight against the Goa'uld. If it were not for you, all of the men on P3X-403 would have been slaughtered by the Unas. You are the only one who could have done what you did. Colonel Edwards gave you high praise in his report. Because of you, we have a rich source for Naquadah and have gained a strong ally in the Unas. There may come a day when Unas will fight beside us against the Goa'uld. With their strength to aid us, we will be more powerful."

Teal'c looked at Daniel intently. "Do not underestimate your worth to us, Daniel Jackson. We do not wish to lose you, and we will do what must be done to save your life. I, personally, will gladly risk my life for your sake. Many years ago, I vowed that I would protect you at all cost to myself. That has not changed." He stared at the archeologist for a moment longer. "I must leave you now. We will be departing soon. When we return, we will have one of the natives with us."

The Jaffa turned and began walking away.

"Teal'c?" Daniel called quietly. The man looked back at him. "Thank you."

Teal'c inclined his head and walked out of the infirmary. Only a moment later, Jack came in.

"I saw Teal'c leaving. Did he just talk with you?"

"Yeah."

"So, I guess you know what we're going to do."

Daniel nodded. "I tried to convince both Sam and Teal'c that you mustn't force any of the natives to come with you, but they wouldn't listen."

"Yeah, well, they were right. I know you have this thing about making nice with the local people of every world we go to, but this is your life we're talking about, Daniel. If we have to knock out one of those guys and bring him through the gate against his will, then that's what we're going to do. Once Janet runs him through all her medical doohickeys and gets all the blood and other stuff she needs, we'll take him back to the planet, none the worse for wear. Don't worry. We're not going to shoot a bunch of them in the process. If we have to shoot anyone, we'll use zat guns."

"I know that you wouldn't shoot the natives, Jack. That's not what concerns me. It's what Bendrak might do. What if he decides that he doesn't like how you're dealing with the natives? What if he goes after you? You could all get killed or end up sick like me. I don't want that to happen." Daniel looked Jack straight in the eye. "Please don't risk everyone's lives unnecessarily for my sake."

"Daniel, I don't put my team at unnecessary risk. Every risk we take is one that I deem to be required to get the job done. I'm responsible for the lives under my command, and one of those lives is yours." He met the archeologist's gaze. "I screwed up, Daniel. I didn't listen to you, and, now, you're paying the price. I'll be damned if I'm going to let the chance to fix this get away from me. We'll take every precaution on this mission, and if it looks like we're going to have to tangle with this Benny guy, then we'll back off, but I'm going to do everything I possibly can to bring one of those natives back with me. That's all there is to it."

Daniel gazed at him for a long, silent moment. "Jack, about what I said in my office—"

"No. Don't apologize, Daniel. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who needs to do that. When this is all over with we'll talk, okay?"

Daniel nodded. "Okay."

Jack glanced at his watch. "I gotta go. We're leaving in ten. You hang in there."

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

"You betcha."

As he left the infirmary, Jack let his mask of confidence fall. He was scared. No, he was downright terrified. Jack had been around Janet Fraiser long enough that he could read her moods, and he knew that she was pinning all her hopes on what she could learn from the natives of P7Y-359. If it didn't pan out. . . . No! It had to! He couldn't accept anything else. He'd already had to say goodbye to Daniel too many times. It was _not_ going to happen again.

Jack thought about the last time he'd helplessly stood by and watched as his best friend died. He thought about the words they'd spoken to each other in the infirmary. He almost halted in his tracks when the meaning of something that Daniel had said truly registered on him for the first time. When he told Daniel that he wasn't going to let everyone put the blame for the accident on the archeologist's shoulders, Daniel had asked, "Why do you care?" At the time, the meaning behind that question hadn't impacted on Jack, but, now, coupled with what Daniel said earlier today in his office, Jack suddenly knew what Daniel was saying that day, and the knowledge was like a sledgehammer blow to the gut. Daniel had truly not known why Jack was going to so much effort on his behalf. Even then, Daniel had believed that Jack no longer cared about him, that their friendship was dead. Jack's steps faltered. And, instead of assuring Daniel that was not the truth, he had given him a pathetic, half-assed compliment about admiring him. He was watching his friend die, and he couldn't even find the courage to say what he really felt, that knowing Daniel was going to die was ripping him apart inside.

_'You really are a pathetic loser, O'Neill,'_ Jack told himself. _'Daniel has been a hell of a lot better friend to you than you've been to him. In fact, you haven't been much of a friend at all these past few years. No wonder Daniel thinks you don't care. And what if he dies again? What if you have to watch death take him away from you yet again, this time for good? Are you going to be a coward and let him die without telling him the truth or are you going to shove your pride and that damned stupid wall you keep your emotions locked behind into the nearest black hole and tell your friend how much you care about him?' _

Swallowing the rock that seemed to have formed in his throat, Jack increased his pace. Daniel was not going to die. It was not going to end this way. And, if it was . . . if it was, Jack swore an oath to himself that he would say the words he should have a long time ago. 


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Ten minutes later, Jack, Sam, Teal'c and SG-9 were exiting through the gate onto P7Y-359.

"Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing a sense of deja vu?" Jack asked.

"Does not the term deja vu refer to a feeling that you have been somewhere before?" Teal'c asked.

"Yeah."

"Then, since we have been to this planet on two previous occasions, it is logical that we would feel that we have been here before."

Jack looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Okay, kids. Let's see if we can find those guys with the funny hats."

They went down the path in the opposite direction of the temple, keeping an eye out for both friendly and unfriendly inhabitants. About two miles from the gate, they came upon a village. The dwellings were constructed of tree limbs and branches woven together and had thatched roofs. They blended into the surrounding forest. It was no surprise that everyone had failed to see the structures in the video feed coming from the UAV. However, it didn't explain why the natives' heat signatures had not been detected by the UAV's infrared scanner.

The natives scuttled away from the SG teams, mothers grabbing their children and ducking into huts. A small group of men approached them. Jack recognized the one who had talked to them earlier.

"Why do you return?" the man asked. "Have you not angered Bendrak enough? Do you seek to bring his wrath down upon all of us?"

"We're not here to make anybody angry," Jack told him. "We're here because of our friend, the one who's sick."

"The one who entered the temple without tribute?"

"Yes."

"But he must surely be dead now."

"No, he's not, but he is very sick," Sam said. "We're trying to find a way to make him well."

The natives looked at each other, muttering under their breaths. Then the spokesman for the group turned back to Jack and the others. "It is not possible for the one you speak of to be alive, not if Bendrak took his life power. Such ones die quickly."

"Okay, that may be true for your people, but our friend is still very much alive, and he needs your help," Jack told him.

"Our help? How can we help this one that Bendrak has taken the life power from?"

"It has to do with the differences between your people and ours," Sam explained. "We may look the same on the outside, but there are probably ways that we differ on the inside, and that's the reason why our friend is still alive. That difference is keeping him alive longer."

"How can differences inside the body stop what Bendrak has done? Life power is life power. It is the same for both men and animals."

"Bendrak takes the life power of animals as well?" Teal'c asked.

"Sometimes, though it does not feed him as well as the life power of the people. He must take many more to appease him."

"So, what's in those crystals you take to the temple?" Sam asked.

"Life power."

"Wait a second," Jack said. "Are you saying that you sucked the life out of people with those things, then feed it to that Benny guy?"

"Throughout the year, those who are old or are very ill are called upon to offer their life power as tribute to Bendrak. It is a great honor, for it means that the rest of the people will be spared. Once their life power has been drawn, the receptacles are stored in the Vault of Life until the Time of Tribute arrives."

"And just how many people have to _offer_ their lives every year? You were carrying twenty of those crystals into the temple."

"This is just the first day of Tribute. The ceremony will continue for nine more days. On each of those days, twenty receptacles will be brought to Bendrak."

"Are you saying that, every year, two hundred of your people are sacrificed to this Bendrak?" Sam asked, horrified.

The native nodded. "It has been so for five generations."

"What happens if you do not have two hundred individuals who are willing to submit to this?" Teal'c asked.

"All of the people make sure that there are two hundred life tributes. If there are not enough old or sick ones during the year, then others volunteer to make sure that the quota is met. One year, when I was but a child, we fell one short because a receptacle was dropped and broke, releasing the life power within. It happened on the final day of Tribute on the journey to the temple, so there was no opportunity to collect a replacement. Bendrak was very angry. He came to this village and took the life power of five people as punishment, two of which were from children. We have never allowed such a thing to happen since then."

Sam excused herself and her teammates and drew them aside. "Sir, if this area has only small villages like this one, the population wouldn't be large enough to withstand losing two hundred people a year. In a few more generations, they'll all be gone. Bendrak is driving them into extinction."

"Perhaps the population is larger than what it appears," Teal'c said.

"That may be so, but what's happening here isn't right. These people are living in fear of that thing. If Daniel was here. . . ."

"I know, Carter," Jack said. "He'd want us to help them. Okay, so how do we do that?"

"Perhaps we could find another world upon which they could live, as we did with the Enkarans," Teal'c suggested.

"That could work if the population is small enough, but we don't know how far this Bendrak can travel," Sam pointed out. "If we relocate all the people within, say, a fifty-mile radius of the temple, and Bendrak goes out beyond that radius and starts raiding other villages, we could just make things worse. It sounds like that thing is really demanding. He could get pretty mad if we steal his easy source of 'food' and decimate the population that's left."

"Okay, this is something that we're going to have to figure out later," Jack said. "Right now, we need to talk one of these people into going back with us."

They returned to the others.

Jack addressed the spokesman. "Okay, um . . . what's your name anyway?"

"I am called Gennae. I am chieftain of this village."

"Well, I'm O'Neill and this is Carter and Teal'c." The members of SG-9 introduced themselves. "As we said earlier, our friend needs help, and we think you can help him."

"How?"

"We need to find out how you are different from us," Sam told him. "We're hoping that, if we learn this, our doctors can find a cure for our friend."

Gennae shook his head. "I have told you that there is no cure. Once a person's life power has been taken, it cannot be given back."

"Well, maybe this Benny didn't take our friend's life power. Maybe he did something else to him," Jack reasoned.

"Either way, there is nothing that can be done to heal him."

"You don't know that!" Jack was getting angry at the man's pigheadedness. "We have medicines and machines that you people don't have. You said so yourself that any of your people would already be dead if this had happened to one of them. The fact that Daniel is still alive means that he does have a chance. Now, all we need is for one of you to come back with us to our world for a little while. They won't be hurt. Our doctors just want to take a look at them and see how your people are different from ours. Then the person will be brought back here."

"To go to your world we would have to travel through the enkali?"

"Enkali? You mean the Stargate? The large ring that you pass on your way to the temple?" Sam asked.

"Yes."

"Then, yes, you would have to travel through it."

"That is forbidden. It used to be that many people sought to escape Bendrak by passing through the enkali. For each one who did, Bendrak took the life power of two others. To save our people, we made it forbidden to use the enkali."

"How do you keep people from sneaking through?" Lieutenant Sayers asked.

"We deny them the knowledge of how to use the enkali. Only a few of high standing in each village know the secret of how to make it work."

"Well, whoever we take with us will only be gone temporarily," Jack told him. "We'll bring him back as soon as we can."

Gennae shook his head. "No. We cannot take the chance. Bendrak may still grow angry, especially now during the Time of Tribute. After that time is completed, Bendrak will sleep for one moon. At that time you can return and take one of our people with you, for there will be no danger."

"Daniel won't live another nine days!" Jack exclaimed. "We need one of your people to come with us now!"

"This is not possible."

"Um, sir? Maybe you should let me try talking to them," Sayers said to Jack. "That is mainly why I'm here."

"Yeah, sure. Knock yourself out. But don't take too long. Daniel doesn't have that much time." The colonel turned to his teammates. "Come on. Let's scout the area."

They left the village and headed back down the path.

"Sir, if we can't convince the villagers into letting one of them come back to Earth with us, what are we going to do?" Sam asked.

"We'll take one of them regardless."

"But what if Gennae is right? We could be condemning two other people to death. We can't do that."

Jack stopped. He rubbed a weary hand across his forehead. "I know." He looked back toward the village, then in the direction of the temple, his expression thoughtful. "We'll just have to give Benny another target."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll stay behind after you take the native through and remain here at the Stargate. If Benny goes on a rampage, I'll be the first one he meets up with."

Sam stared at him. "Are you saying that you'll offer yourself as a sacrifice?"

"Yep."

"Did not Gennae say that Bendrak takes two people for every one who goes through the Stargate?" Teal'c asked.

"Yeah. That's the only flaw in the plan. I'm hoping that I can, uh, talk him into just taking me or, better yet, leaving all of us alone. Maybe if I explain that the person who went through with you is coming back, he'll cool off and go back to his temple."

"That may not be possible, O'Neill." The Jaffa stood straighter. "I will remain as well."

"Teal'c, I can't ask you to do that."

"You are not asking. I offer this freely."

Jack looked into the big man's eyes, seeing that there would be no reasoning with the Jaffa. "Okay." He turned to his second in command. "Come on, Carter. It's time to go make a deal."

They returned to the village and found Sayers in an animated discussion with Gennae. The lieutenant broke off and walked up to them.

"It's no use, sir. No amount of bribery is going to convince him to let one of his people go back with us. He's too afraid of what Bendrak will do."

"Well, we've got another deal for him," Jack said. They walked up to Gennae. "Okay, here's the deal. If you let one of your people go back to Earth, Teal'c and I will stay behind and offer ourselves to this Benny guy if he decides to get angry. We'll remain at the Stargate so that we will be the first people he sees if he comes."

Gennae looked at him in surprise. "You would willingly offer two of yourselves for the sake of one?"

"That's right."

"This one called Daniel must be of great importance to your people for you to do this."

"Yes, he is. He is very important to us."

"Is he an Insharra?"

"An Insharra?"

"A wiseman, one learned in the ways of the people and of the past. Insharras are of great importance to us, valued above all, for they teach us the old things, guide us in our lives, and keep the ways of the people alive."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, that's what Daniel is."

"Then it would be a terrible thing to lose him. I will discuss this with my people." Gennae went off to talk with some of the other villagers.

"I hope you know what you're doing, sir," Sayers said.

"So do I, Lieutenant. So do I."

A few minutes later, Gennae returned. "We accept. It would be a great sin if we did not attempt to aid your Insharra. They are worth more than the lives of any two others."

"Great!" Jack exclaimed. "So, who's the volunteer?"

"I will go with you."

"But are you not needed by your people?" Teal'c asked. "You are their leader."

"It is possible that Bendrak will be angry with the one who comes with you and choose to take his life power. As the leader of my people, I cannot ask any of them to face this danger if I am not willing to face it myself. Besides, I am old and will soon offer myself as tribute. This is the best thing. My successor has already been trained and is ready to take my place should I die."

"You are a man of honor and courage, a true leader to your people," Teal'c said, bowing his head in respect.

"Thank you for your words."

SG-1 and 9 went to the Stargate with Gennae. Sam dialed up.

"Sir, are you sure you want to stay?" she asked the colonel.

"It's the only way, Major. I won't put the lives of two innocent people at risk to save my own skin, especially not since this is all my fault in the first place. Let's just hope that, if Benny does attack and steals our, uh, life power, Doc Fraiser comes up with a cure for all of us."

Sam nodded. "We'll be back in a few hours, sir. Be careful."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

As they exited the Stargate, Gennae's eyes darted about, looking at everything. General Hammond came forward, and the old man's gaze rested on him.

"Major Carter? Where are the colonel and Teal'c?" the general asked.

"They stayed behind on the planet, sir. I'll explain everything later. This is Gennae. He's the chieftain of the village we went to. Gennae, this it General Hammond. He is our leader."

"Welcome to Earth, Gennae," Hammond greeted. "We are pleased that you agreed to help us."

The native man bowed. "I must do what I can to help your Insharra."

The general looked at Sam inquiringly.

"He's talking about Daniel, sir," she explained.

"I see." Hammond turned back to Gennae. "We appreciate that. Some of my people will take you to where our doctor will look at you. Major Carter, I'd like a report on what happened on the planet."

"Sir, is it okay if I go see Daniel first? I need to tell him what's going on. Otherwise, he's going to be worried."

"Very well. Come see me in an hour."

"Thank you, sir."

Sam led Gennae to the infirmary. The old man's eyes took in everything.

"This building must be very large, far greater than anything on my world."

"Actually, we're deep underground, inside a mountain."

"Your people must have great skills in building."

Sam smiled. "Yes, we do. You would be amazed by some of our architecture. We have buildings that are many times higher than the tallest trees and cities hundreds of times larger than your village."

"If I live, I will have much to share with my people of this experience."

As they entered the infirmary, Sam immediately looked over at Daniel.

"Sam. Thank God," Janet said, hurrying up to them. "I see you got one of them to come with you."

"Yes, this is Gennae. Gennae, this is Doctor Fraiser."

Gennae bowed. "You are the medicine woman?"

"Yes, yes I am, and I am very happy that you're here."

"How's Daniel?" Sam asked.

Janet met her eyes and shook her head, her expression telling the major all she needed to know.

"I wish to meet your Insharra," Gennae said.

"Of course." Sam led him over to Daniel. Gennae's eyes widened.

"But he is so young. How can one so young have enough knowledge to be an Insharra?"

Sam smiled softly. "Daniel is very special. Even as a child he knew more about many things than most adults do."

"Then he is, indeed, of great value. I am pleased that I may be able to help him."

Sam looked at the archeologist, her smile disappearing. He looked terrible. There was a tinge of yellow to his skin, and his face looked drawn and haggard. His breathing sounded raspy. He was now wearing an oxygen mask. His condition had obviously deteriorated more while they were gone.

Sam touched his shoulder. "Daniel?"

The linguist's eyelids fluttered open, revealing slightly unfocused eyes. "Sam? You're back?" The archeologist's voice was muffled by the mask. He attempted to remove it, but it was clear that he couldn't get his hand to move properly. Frustration knit his brow. Sam took the mask off for him. "Thanks."

The major nodded, keeping the worry off her face with an effort. "Yeah, we're back, and we brought someone with us. This is Gennae. He's the chieftain of the people we met."

Daniel's gaze went to the native man. "Hello. It's an honor to meet you, Gennae. Thank you for coming."

"The honor is mine. Your people have told me that you are an Insharra of great learning and skill."

"Insharra?"

"A wiseman, Daniel," Sam explained. "From what Gennae told us, it sounds like an Insharra is their version of a historian and possibly an anthropologist or maybe a philosopher."

Daniel nodded.

Janet came up to them. "We need to get started right away. Gennae, please come with me." She led the old man away.

"Sam, where are Jack and Teal'c?" Daniel asked as he watched her settle in the chair beside his bed.

"They're still on the planet."

"Why?"

"The colonel thought it best to stay there. As soon as we take Gennae back, they'll come home."

Daniel studied her face. "What aren't you telling me? Did something happen to them?"

"No. No, they're fine." _'I hope.' _

"Tell me what's going on," Daniel insisted.

Sam gave a silent sigh and filled her friend in on what happened.

"Jack and Teal'c stayed behind to offer themselves to Bendrak if he attacks?" Daniel asked, his voice rising.

"It was the only way to get the natives to cooperate, Daniel."

He shook his head as emphatically as he had the power to. "No. God, no, Sam. They shouldn't have done that. All of you should have just come back. If something happens to them, it will be because of me."

"Daniel, both the colonel and Teal'c were willing to take that risk. I would have, too, and so would you, if you'd been in their place. You _know_ that."

Daniel closed his eyes. His breathing was growing progressively more labored, and Sam quickly put the oxygen mask over his mouth. She removed it when he indicated that he wanted to talk.

"Sam, please. You need to contact them, tell them to come back before it's too late. It might already be too late."

"They won't come back, Daniel. They're doing what they feel they have to."

"At least dial the gate up and get in touch with them, make sure they're all right."

Sam nodded. "Okay, I'll call down to the control room." She picked up the phone near Daniel's bed and made the call. She then waited as the gate was dialed up and the wormhole established. A moment later, she turned to Daniel. "They're talking to the colonel and Teal'c now, Daniel. The colonel says that everything is all right, no sign of Bendrak."

"Is there a way to patch Jack into the phone?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." She gave the technician some instructions. A short while later, she said, "Colonel? Can you hear me? I'm talking to you from the infirmary. Daniel wants to talk to you." She put the phone up to Daniel's ear.

"Jack, what do you think you're doing?"

"Well, that's a fine hello, Daniel. What? No 'hi, how are you?'"

"Jack, you shouldn't have done this."

"Daniel, I told you before that I was going to do what I had to to fix this."

"It isn't going to fix anything if you and Teal'c get yourselves killed. I don't want things to be fixed that way. It's too high a price."

There was a long pause. "Not for us, Daniel."

Daniel closed his eyes and swallowed tightly. "Jack," he whispered.

"Look, Daniel. It's going to be fine. If Benny was going to show up, he'd have done so by now. He probably has no idea that Gennae's gone. You just lay there and relax, save your strength. Teal'c and I will be back as soon as Janet gets through dissecting Gennae."

Seeing that Daniel was having more trouble breathing again, Sam put the mask back over his face. She told Jack that they'd contact him again in a while, then hung up the phone and resumed her seat.

"I should never have gone into that temple," Daniel said after she removed the mask. "I should have listened to my instincts and refused to go in. But I was upset and angry with Jack because of what he said, and I let my emotions control me. Now, I'm dying, and Jack and Teal'c might die, too."

"Nobody's going to die, Daniel. You have to believe that. Janet will find a cure."

"I said some awful things to him, Sam. He came to my office, and I . . . I really lost it. I don't ever remember being that angry in my whole life. I hurt him, and, even though I knew that I was hurting him, I couldn't stop. I was out of control."

"I'm sure he understood, Daniel. I'm afraid that I said some really nasty things to him, too, stuff I'm not so proud about now."

"You did? What about that whole showing respect to your superior officers thing?"

"Um, that sort of when out the window. I, uh . . . called him a son of a bitch."

Daniel's eyebrows lifted dramatically. The corners of his mouth turned up. "I almost wish I'd seen that."

Sam gave him a smile. "After that, I just about verbally castrated him."

"Ouch. Poor Jack."

"He'll recover."

All of the humor disappeared from Daniel's face. "I hope so." His gaze drifted away to a spot across the room. He was silent for a long moment. "Since I descended and got my memories back, I've spent a lot of time thinking about my life. Though I can't remember most of the stuff I did while I was ascended, I do remember all the things that happened as I was dying, and I remember those first few moments after I ascended, before I left. Talking with Oma, I was forced to be totally honest with myself, and the things I thought and felt. . . . Let's just say that, when you really look at yourself and your life, you don't always like what you see."

"Daniel, what are you talking about?"

"There are things I've done, decisions I've made that I was wishing I'd done differently. I felt like I hadn't done enough, that I didn't make a difference."

"Daniel, you _have_ made a difference. Your presence, knowledge and abilities have been so important in our battle against the Goa'uld. We wouldn't be anywhere near as far along if it wasn't for you. In fact, I am certain that we'd all be dead. You have contributed more to this program and to our ongoing efforts than just about anyone."

Daniel shook his head. "Not as much as Jack or Teal'c, definitely not as much as you."

"Well, I don't happen to agree with that. The truth is that, if it weren't for you, I don't know if I'd have been able to do some of the things I did. More than once you enabled me to see things that I'd probably have missed if I'd been on my own. You taught me how to think outside the box, Daniel, how to look for solutions in ways that I never would have before we met. And every time we worked together, it was phenomenal. There were times when we were so in sync with each other, finishing each other's sentences, communicating whole pages of dialog with no more than a few words or just a look, knowing instinctively what each of us was thinking. I have never had that with anyone else, and it feels really good. I feel sorry for the Carters in those alternate realities who didn't have you, for they missed out on having something precious in their lives.

"The year that you were gone, I missed you so, so much. It was like there was this huge hole in my life, an emptiness that no one else could fill. There were times when I needed you so badly, when I ached to be able to talk with you, times when just having you there with me would have made all the difference in the world."

Sam realized that she was crying. She didn't know when the tears had started, but, now that they'd come, she wasn't going to stop them. She took the mask from Daniel's face so that she could really see him. She saw that there were tears in his eyes as well.

"You—" Sam's voice caught, and she cleared her throat. "You are the best friend that I have ever had, Daniel. Whenever I need a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on, you're always there. You help give me strength when I'm weak; you give me confidence when I feel like a failure. I see your courage, and compassion, and goodness, and it makes me feel honored to have you as a friend. I am a better person because of you, for I see in you someone with a strength of morality so powerful, so unwavering, that it makes me want to be more like you. You are the finest, most . . . most beautiful person I have ever known, and I love you. I can't lose you again. I just can't. I really don't think my heart would survive."

Daniel felt like his heart was breaking. He wanted so much to take Sam in his arms and hold her. He wanted to tell her everything he felt about her. With a tremendous effort, he slowly managed to lift his arm and cup her cheek. She pressed his hand against her wet face, her eyes closing.

"I love you, too, Sam," Daniel whispered. "The things we've shared, our friendship and companionship, have meant just as much to me. Being a part of the SGC has given me a lot of good things, but the one thing that I am most grateful for, that means more to me than anything else, is that it gave me the three best friends I could ever have, Jack, Teal'c and you. I never knew what it was like to have friends like you. For most of my life I was a loner. Except for Sarah and Doctor Jordan, I didn't let anyone get close to me."

The smallest of smiles curved Daniel's lips. "But then I went through the Stargate, and everything changed. Because of it, I had a wonderful year with a woman and people I loved and who loved me, people I could let myself love without fear of being abandoned. I've . . . I've lost them now, but having Sha're and the people of Abydos taught me something. I learned that I didn't have to be alone, that I could let myself love people."

Daniel drew in a long, difficult breath. He knew that he shouldn't be talking this much, but there were things he still needed to say. "My life has changed so much since that day I first opened the Stargate, in both good ways and bad. There was a time when I wished that I'd never unburied the gate on Abydos because it resulted in Sha're's death, but I've done some thinking about it since then, and I realized some things. If I hadn't done that, if things had gone differently, it is very likely that SG-1 would never have gone to Chulak, and Teal'c would still be Apophis' First Prime. Not only that but I wouldn't have ended up going to that alternate reality and finding out about the attack by the Goa'uld. Our Earth might have ended up being destroyed just like that one." He looked at her closely. "And if I had never unburied the gate on Abydos, I'd never have seen Jack again, and I wouldn't have met you or Teal'c, and having you guys in my life is something I would never want to change."

Daniel curled his fingers around Sam's. "I made a mistake when I transferred out if SG-1, Sam. I was hurt and angry, and I thought that I no longer had a place with you guys, but I was wrong. I don't know what's happened between Jack and me, but running away from it isn't going to solve anything. We need to talk about it and try to fix things, to rebuild the bridge between us. I hope that I'll get that chance because I don't want to leave this life with things as they are now. I have a lot of regrets, and I don't want to add that to them." He looked deeply into her eyes. "Sam, I don't want to die. There are so many things that I still want to do with my life. I want to stay with SG-1 and continue to fight the Goa'uld. I want to live to see a day when we defeat them and free the galaxy from their evil. But if I can't, if this really is it for me, then you need to know that I don't regret the path that I chose, and that I am grateful for every moment I spent with you and the other people I love. You all mean more to me than anyone or anything."

Sam was crying again, trying not to sob openly. She was holding onto Daniel's hand so tightly that she feared she might be hurting him. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then his cheek. Pausing only an instant, she placed a final tender kiss on his lips. When she drew back, it was to see Daniel smiling at her. Then the expression turned to humor.

"Better be careful, Sam, or I might get the wrong idea. Jack might not like it if I start making moves on you."

Sam grinned broadly. She stood up and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Whether or not _Jack_ would like it isn't what's important, now is it, Daniel."

Daniel stared at her in stunned silence as she put the oxygen mask back over his face and told him she'd be back later. He watched her leave, a goofy smile forming on his face. Then he closed his eyes and attempted to relax, finally managing after a few minutes to drift off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

After getting all the blood, urine and DNA samples she figured that she'd need and giving him an MRI, CT, EKG, EEG, PET, X-rays from top to bottom, and performing every other procedure she could think of short of exploratory surgery, Janet decided that she'd learned all that she could about Gennae's body and told Sam that he could be taken back home. By that time, the poor man was looking a little ragged around the edges.

Jack had been contacted again a while ago and had reported that he and Teal'c were still fine. Sam had the wormhole established once more.

"Sir, Doctor Fraiser is finished with Gennae," she announced.

"Does she know anything yet?" Jack asked.

"No, sir. It's going to take a while for her to get back all the test results. Sir, if you're okay there for another hour or so, I'd like to get Gennae something to eat and let him take it easy for a little while. As you can imagine, he's a bit worn out after all the tests."

"Yeah, been there, done that. Sure, Major. Feed the guy and let him relax a little. It's the least we can do for him."

Sam took Gennae to the commissary and fed him the best things on the menu, topped off with a huge piece of chocolate cake that would have had Daniel in nirvana. Gennae, who was a member of a hunter/gatherer society and had never eaten that kind of food before, stuffed himself shamelessly.

After the meal was over, Sam took the native to her office, got online, and showed him photos of New York City, Los Angeles, and other major cities around the world. Gennae stared at it all, open-mouthed.

"The people are like insects compared to the size of the buildings," he whispered. "These places truly exist?"

"They sure do."

"Amazing."

Sam then showed him photos of some of the greatest architectural examples of ancient history, the Coliseum, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, and more.

"I wish that Daniel was here to show these to you," she said. "He could tell you all about their history, especially the pyramids. He has a tremendous amount of knowledge about ancient civilizations."

Gennae looked at her. "Will all the things that your doctor did to me help him to live?"

"We don't know yet. I really hope so. We don't want to lose him. He means so much to us. He's . . . irreplaceable to our people."

Gennae looked at her more closely. "In your heart as well, I think."

Startled, Sam looked up at him. "Um . . . yes, of course he is. He's my best friend, and I love him. I know what it's like to live without him, and it's not something I would ever want to do again."

Gennae smiled and patted her hand. "I will pray to Dengai that Daniel will get well."

"Dengai?"

"The god of our deliverance. We no longer see him as we do Bendrak, but he is with us all the same." He stood. "And, now, I must go back to my people. Thank you for showing me some of the wonders of your world."

Sam took the old man to the gate room and went with him back to his world.

"Carter. How's it going?" Jack asked.

"All right, sir."

"So, I guess we can get out of here." The colonel stepped forward. "Thanks for everything, Gennae. We appreciate your help."

The native bowed. "I am pleased that I could help you. I hope that my people and yours can be friends."

Jack smiled. "You bet. Maybe one of these days, we can help you so that you won't have to give tribute to what's-his-name anymore."

"I do not know how you could do so, but a people who could create such wonders as you do might be able to find a way." He bowed again. "I hope that we will meet again someday." Gennae then walked away down the path toward his village.

"Come on. Let's go home," Jack said.

* * *

The hours passed with agonizing slowness as Daniel's teammates watched him get sicker and sicker. He was now extremely jaundiced. He was also cyanotic, his lips and nail beds possessing a distinct bluish cast from the reduced oxygen saturation. Every breath was an extreme effort for him. Janet had wanted to put him on a ventilator, but Daniel refused, not wanting to lose the ability to talk. In fact, he had insisted that the oxygen mask be replaced with the cannula so that he could talk more freely. His blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level, barely high enough to keep him alive as his heart lost the strength to keep pumping blood through his veins. His kidneys had almost completely shut down, and he was now on dialysis. He could no longer move his arms and legs at all and was having difficulty moving his head. The only blessing was that he was no longer in pain. His whole body had pretty much gone numb. Jack, Sam and Teal'c had not left his side since returning from P7Y-359.

Daniel was asleep when Janet finally came over to them. The expression on her face told them how bad the news was.

"You couldn't find anything, could you," Sam whispered, trying not to cry.

The doctor's head shook. "Every scan, every test I've run shows Gennae to be one hundred percent human. There is nothing different about him. Bloodwork, chemical analysis, organ structure, it's all normal. I have no idea why his people succumb so quickly to Bendrak's attacks while Daniel didn't."

"So, what does this mean?" Jack asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

"It means that I'm going to die, Jack," Daniel murmured in a calm, quiet voice.

Everyone turned to him.

"No. I can't accept that," Jack said. "There has to be something that somebody can do. What about that Goa'uld healing device?"

Sam shook her head. "I'm just not skilled enough with it. The last time I used it on Daniel, I just made things worse. We sent a message to the Tok'ra, but they haven't responded."

"I'm not sure if they'd be able to do anything to help anyway," Janet admitted. "This isn't a disease or an injury. It's like Daniel's entire body has simply lost the ability to function, like his . . . life force is draining away."

"Well, I bet there's one person who could help him," Jack stated, an angry, determined look in his eyes. "Bendrak did this to him, and he could probably fix it. Maybe it's time I go back there and have a little chat with him."

"No," Daniel weakly said. "No, Jack, you're not going back there."

"Daniel, you may not be a member of SG-1 right now, but, unless somebody made you a general while I wasn't looking, you still can't give me orders."

"Jack." Daniel put a wealth of meaning into that one word. His eyes caught and held his friend's. "There's no more time."

A look of pure agony passed over Jack's face as the truth of that statement hit him. He shook his head, trying to deny the cold, hard fact.

"I'd . . . I'd like to talk to Teal'c in private for a few minutes," Daniel requested.

Silently, the others moved away. The Jaffa came up to stand beside Daniel's bed.

"Teal'c, when I was dying the last time, before I ascended, you came to me and said some things. I want you to know how much I appreciate what you told me. It meant a lot to me."

"The words I spoke were true, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, his voice roughened with the emotions that he had been trained not to show. "For these many years you have proven yourself to be a great and courageous warrior in the fight against the Goa'uld. Your knowledge and your skills have been invaluable. But more than this is what I have seen in your heart and your spirit. Your mightiest weapon has not been in the strength of your body or your skill at arms but in the power that resides within your soul." Teal'c voice wavered. "You have shown me that there is more strength in holding a hand out in friendship and peace than to strike out in anger and hatred. From you I have learned that the truest test of a warrior is not how well he can conquer his enemies by force but by how well he can destroy his enemies by turning them into allies. You have shown that love is a far greater power than any weapon of destruction. And for that, I will always be grateful. You had much reason to hate me. Most in your place would have done so. But, instead, you offered me forgiveness and friendship. In that moment, you showed me that you are a far greater man than I."

Teal'c voice broke. His chin trembling, eyes shining with the tears he would not let fall, the former First Prime of Apophis gazed long and deep into his friend's eyes. "I am honored and proud to have known you, Daniel Jackson. You will forever remain one of the greatest friends I have ever had."

Tears slipping silently down his face, Daniel looked at the Jaffa. "As you are mine, Teal'c," he whispered. "It has been a great privilege fighting at your side. I can think of no greater honor than to call you my friend."

Teal'c stood back and crossed his arms over his chest, bowing his head deeply. Daniel had seen him do that only once before, when he and Bra'tac had seen Oma Desala on Kheb. Daniel knew that it was among the Jaffa's greatest gestures of respect and honor.

Without another word, Teal'c left the room. A moment later, Sam came in. She sat on the chair and took Daniel's hand, pressing it against her cheek.

"Daniel," she whispered. Then she started crying.

"Shh. Please don't cry, Sam. It's all right. Really it is."

"How can you say that?" she sobbed. "I'm going to lose you. You're going to die. Oh, God. This hurts so much."

"I know. It hurts me, too. I don't want to leave you. I don't want to say goodbye."

"I wish that you had stayed ascended," Sam said vehemently. "Even if I had never seen you again, it would have been better knowing that you were out there, alive in some form, than to get you back only to lose you again so soon, knowing that, this time, it will be completely."

"I don't, Sam. I don't wish that I had stayed ascended, even though I'm now going to die for real. I wish that I could have had more time with you, but these months have meant a lot to me. When I was dying before, I felt like my life had been a failure, that all the things I'd done had, in the end, been for nothing. I didn't think I deserved ascension. But Oma taught me some things, that success or failure does not truly matter when weighing the worth of a person, that what really matters is how that person faces the challenges they are given and how they seek to live their life. The final thing she told me was that there is only one thing that any of us can truly control, and that's whether we are good or evil. I may not have succeeded in all the things I tried to do; there may have been more failures than successes, but I have always tried to do the right thing. I have remained true to myself and to what I believe in. I wasn't a failure, Sam. My life wasn't for nothing. I did do some good. And I did the best that I could, despite all the obstacles that stood in my way. This." He nodded at their clasped hands. "What I have with you and with Jack and Teal'c, with Hammond, and Janet, and everyone else who has become my friend, is important. It matters. It made a difference. Perhaps not to the galaxy, but to us. And, after I'm gone, you'll still have that. It will always be in your memories and your hearts. And if there is such a thing as an afterlife, it will always be in my heart, too."

Sobbing, Sam wrapped her arms around Daniel, knowing that it would be the last time she ever did. Her heart breaking, she then fled from the room.

Daniel closed his eyes. He could feel himself dying, sense his life force slipping away from him. But there was still one person that he needed to see, so he held onto the bit of life that remained within him and waited. He didn't have to wait long. He sensed rather than heard when Jack came into the room.

"We've been here once before," Daniel murmured as Jack came up to the bed.

"Yeah, we have. I don't suppose that Oma's going to. . . ."

Daniel opened his eyes and looked at his friend. "No, not this time."

"That's what I figured. Their loss." Jack's gaze moved around the room, focusing everywhere except on the archeologist.

Daniel smiled faintly. "You're still not good at this, are you."

"No, I'm not." Jack finally met his eyes. "But, this time, I'm damn well going to try." He sat on the chair. "The last time we were like this I couldn't tell you how I felt, and you deserved better than that. You deserve so much more than what you've been given. You want me to tell you how I feel? I'm angry. I am so angry at how bad life sucks sometimes, at how unfair it can be. This shouldn't be happening. It is so _wrong_ on so many levels that there are no words for it. You more than anyone should be one of those guys who lives to be a hundred and two years old and dies in his sleep. I feel like this is one colossal mistake, and someone needs to wake up and say, 'Oops! Wait a minute. This isn't supposed to happen. We need to fix it.'"

He paused, his eyes dropping to the bed for a moment as he gathered more of his resolve. He met Daniel's gaze again. "I also feel . . . ashamed, ashamed that all the things you said to me earlier were true on some level, though not in the way you thought. I do respect you, Daniel. You have no idea how much. You are. . . ." He stopped abruptly. _'Dammit, Jack. You can do this. You need to say this. It's the last chance you'll ever get.'_ Gathering the rest of his resolve, he continued. "You are the finest, strongest, most courageous, most . . . incredible person I have ever known. I have never known anyone else who could have gone through all the things you have suffered your whole life, yet remain a good, noble, caring man who never gives up and who never sacrifices his principles. God knows that those lofty principles of yours have irked me to no end sometimes, but, despite what you may think, I'd never have wanted you to change, not really. It's those principles and your unwillingness to back down when you know you're right that made you such a vital part of the SGC and of my team. You gave us something that we desperately needed, something . . . something _I_ needed. You didn't just save my life, Daniel, you saved my soul."

Jack took a deep breath. "What makes me so ashamed is that I was so determined not to show how much you meant to me and how much I admired you that I treated you like crap. I didn't want to care about you so much, and it made me mad that I couldn't stop it from happening. It wasn't like that in the beginning, but, as time went on and I saw that you didn't need me to be your protector anymore, your . . . your big brother, I used that as an excuse to pull away from you. I tried to make myself not care so much so that, if something happened to you, it wouldn't hurt.

"But there was more to it than that. I am a colonel in the United States Air Force. I was trained to fight, to use military might to defend my country and defeat the enemy. I wasn't taught to make friends with that enemy. I wasn't trained to talk myself and my men out of bad situations. That's not the way things were done in my little world. So, when you came along and tried to convince me that there was another way to do things, I didn't want to accept it. The more time that passed, the deeper we got into this war, the less willing I was to see things your way. I just got so damn tired, Daniel, tired, and angry, and frustrated by our never-ending battle with the Goa'uld, of seeing so many good men die. Sometimes, it seemed so hopeless. I got desperate. I was determined to beat the Goa'uld, to get whatever we needed to win the war no matter what, even if we had to do some nasty things, even if we had to turn a blind eye to stuff that we shouldn't. And that attitude transferred to other situations as well."

Jack looked straight into Daniel's eyes. "But you weren't like that. You never lost sight of what was right. You were never willing to sacrifice your morality and your principles, and you tried to keep everyone else from doing the same. And it made me angry because I didn't want to listen to you. I didn't want to admit that you were right and I was wrong. But, deep down inside, I knew that you were, and that made me even more angry. I meant it when I said that I admired you, Daniel, but it was an admiration that I didn't want to have or admit to because admitting it would mean that I had to accept that I was wrong. And so I fought you. The more you pushed, the more you tried to change my way of thinking, the more I fought against you. I clung so tightly to my anger and hatred and to my determination to defeat the Goa'uld that I failed to see that I was choking the life out of the best friendship I've ever had. And for that I am so sorry."

Now that the dam to his emotions had been breached, Jack knew that he had to say everything. Gathering his courage, Jack completely bared his emotions, letting Daniel see them in his eyes. "But, more than the anger and the shame, what I feel most of all right now is pain. It hurts so damn much that this is happening, that you're going to. . . ." Jack broke off for a moment, then continued, though it was a struggle to finish. "It hurts to know that I'm losing my best friend, someone who has never failed to be there for me even when I wasn't there for him. I'll never be able to make up for the ways that I've hurt you and our friendship, and that hurts so much that it's just about killing me." Jack met Daniel's gaze head on. "I . . . I _care_, Daniel, more than I ever thought I could. I am so sorry that I never told you that before, that I never let you see how much your friendship has meant to me."

With tear-filled eyes Daniel gazed at Jack, his friend's words warming his soul. The darkness was closing in on him. He could feel this odd sensation of lightness, as if his body was losing substance. His vision had narrowed to a single point, and the terminus of that point was Jack, his friend, his companion, the man he respected, trusted, admired . . . and loved.

"I know, Jack," he whispered, so softly that the older man had to lean in more closely to hear him. "I have always known. In spite of the fighting, and the insults, and the irreconcilable differences between us, I knew." He gazed deeply into his friend's eyes. "I forgive you, Jack." A tiny smile curved his lips. "That's what friends do."

Feeling whole and at peace, Daniel at last let go. In horror, Jack watched as Daniel closed his eyes, gave a final soft, sighing breath, then grew still. A long, unending tone began issuing from the heart monitor. Jack stared at the lifeless face of his closest friend, his heart going cold and numb.

"No," he whispered.

Just then, Janet, Sam, Teal'c and General Hammond came in. Janet walked up to the bed and looked at the monitor. She reached a trembling hand out to Daniel and touched his face.

"He's gone," she said, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

"No," Sam sobbed brokenly. Then she broke down completely. Teal'c gently took her into his arms and held her as she wept inconsolably, his own tears falling unnoticed down his face. Janet flipped the switch on the monitor, silencing it.

Suddenly unable to bear being in that place, Jack fled. He rushed out of the base, passing the checkpoints in a haze of anguish. He was in his car and a third of the way down the mountain before he even became aware of what he was doing. Seeing an old logging road, Jack took it and drove until there was no more road to follow. Then he was out of the car and running, crashing through the underbrush in his desperate need to get away. All at once, he came to an abrupt stop. Jack's chest heaved as his emotions built and built. Then a single scream of torment ripped from his throat, and he fell to his knees to cry the first tears he'd shed since the day his son died. 


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

From behind the shield of the privacy curtain, Janet sorrowfully and with great care removed the leads, IV's and other medical paraphernalia from Daniel's body. As she did so, she let her hands brush his hair, touch his skin, feel the warmth that she knew would soon be gone. So many times she had treated Daniel as he lay sick or injured, often wondering if it would be for the last time. Nearly a year and a half ago, she had really believed that it was for the last time. It had been so hard watching him die from the radiation poisoning, knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to save him. But this time was much worse. This time, she felt as if she had failed Daniel, that there might have been some way to save him if only she had known how.

Janet stroked her friend's cheek, gazing at his still face. "I'm so sorry, Daniel," she whispered. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you." Feeling herself losing control, she pushed back the curtain and quickly went to the privacy of her office, passing by the place where Teal'c still held a sobbing Sam.

"He's gone, Teal'c. He's really gone," Sam said. "Oh, God. Why? Why did this have to happen? Why Daniel?"

"I do not know, Samantha," Teal'c replied in a shattered voice, calling her by her given name for the first time. "I would do all that is within my power to make it not so. I would gladly give my life a hundred times over if it would bring him back. He was the best of all of us, and he deserved far more than this."

The Jaffa looked over at his friend's lifeless body, feeling his grief welling up within him. This was not right. It was wrong that a man like Daniel Jackson should die so pointlessly. If there was a true god, then Teal'c wished that he could ask Him why.

As Teal'c's gaze remained upon Daniel, a frown suddenly marred his face. He watched more closely and saw a repeat of what he had thought he just witnessed. His body tensed, and he continued to watch, needing to make certain of what he believed he was seeing.

"Major Carter," he finally said, wonder in his voice. There was no reply. "Major Carter, something is happening."

"What?"

"Look at Daniel Jackson."

Reluctantly, Sam lifted her head from Teal's chest and turned to Daniel. She looked at him and saw. . . . "Oh my God." She pulled out of Teal's arms and quickly stepped up to Daniel's bed, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. "Janet!" she yelled. The doctor came rushing out of her office. Sam looked at her with eyes that were now filled with hope. "He's alive."

"What? Sam, he can't be. He's. . . ." Janet's voice trailed off as she looked at the man she had declared dead twenty minutes ago and saw what they had. Daniel was breathing. "Dear God."

Janet instantly grabbed her stethoscope and placed the end upon Daniel's chest. "This can't be happening. I've got a strong, steady heartbeat." She shone her penlight into his eyes. "Pupils are equal and reactive." She grabbed a blood pressure cuff and put it on the archeologist's arm. "Pressures . . . one seventeen over seventy-two. Perfect." Janet looked at Daniel more closely and saw that the jaundice of his skin was fading and the blue in his lips was all but gone. "This is . . . this is impossible. He was dead. His body had shut down, and, now, he's coming back. Everything is coming back."

Janet called for a nurse. Blood was quickly drawn and sent off to the lab with an order that the results were needed yesterday. Daniel was then hooked back up to the life signs monitor. They all smiled at seeing the steady rhythm of Daniel's heartbeat showing on the screen.

"What's going on, Janet?" Sam asked, wiping away the tears on her face. "How could Daniel just suddenly come back to life like that?"

"He couldn't. It is medically impossible, not after this much time had passed."

"Yet, that is precisely what Daniel Jackson has done," Teal'c stated.

Daniel was hooked up to an EEG. Janet shook her head as she looked at the results. "He's showing a normal brainwave pattern for a person in a deep state of sleep. I need to do an MRI, get a urine analysis, take—" She broke off abruptly as Daniel drew in a deep breath and began stirring. Everyone's gaze fixed upon his face as his eyes slowly opened.

"D-Daniel?" Sam whispered, her voice shaking.

"Sam?" Daniel's brow knit in confusion. "What's going on?" He lifted his hands and looked at them as if they were a strange alien device. "I'm not dead?"

"No, Daniel, you are very much alive, though I have absolutely no idea how that's possible," Janet told him with a smile. "How do you feel?"

"I feel . . . I feel great, not sick at all." He gazed at his friends. "What happened?"

"You died, Daniel," Sam replied. "You were dead. Then you just suddenly came back to life."

"Um . . . okay. How?"

"You tell me," Janet said. "You were dead for twenty minutes, Daniel. I didn't attempt to resuscitate you when your heart stopped because I knew there was no point to it. What's happened here should have been impossible. And what's even more impossible to believe is that you appear to be completely healed. There's not a thing wrong with you, from what I can see. It's like a spontaneous, instantaneous remission."

Daniel looked about. "Where's Jack?"

"He ran out of here after you . . . you died," Sam told him. "I don't know where he is."

"We need to find him."

"We will," Janet assured him. "I'll page him. I also need to tell the general what's happened." She returned to her office.

Daniel's eyes went to Sam and Teal'c, who were both smiling at him. Sam grabbed his hand in both of hers, laughing in delight. Then she was suddenly hugging him like she was never going to let go.

"I can't believe you're alive," she murmured, drawing away to touch his face. "I'm afraid that I'm dreaming and I'll wake up."

"This is not a dream, Major Carter," Teal'c said happily. "Daniel Jackson is, indeed, alive. And I am also quite pleased that he is."

"No more than I am, Teal'c," Daniel said with a laugh.

* * *

With a sad sigh, General Hammond sat down at his desk. He suddenly felt very old and weary. Too many times he'd lost men under his command. Too many times he'd had to write letters of condolence to grieving relatives. It was a sad and necessary part of being a military commander. But, this time, the weight of his grief seemed to be especially heavy. Daniel Jackson had been a very special man, unlike anyone Hammond had ever known. His gentle nature, his unfailing courage and strength, his deeply noble spirit had earned him a place in the general's heart. He was the kind of man Hammond would have been proud to have for a son.

When the general first met Daniel, he didn't think much of him and had resisted the idea of letting the young archeologist be a part of SG-1. Yet, in the years that had passed since then, that young man had proven to be an invaluable asset to both SG-1 and the SGC. Time and again it had been his knowledge and skills that had averted disaster, helped them when no one else could. If he had been a member of the military, he'd have earned himself a chest full of metals. It was so unfair that all the good he had done, all the ways in which he had served humankind and helped save the Earth, would go unknown and unrecognized by all but a handful of people. Maybe someday, in the distant future, the world would finally be told how much it owed to Doctor Daniel Jackson. Until then, he would remain an unsung hero who gave his life for the greatest endeavor in human history.

What also saddened Hammond was that there were no loved ones for him to write to about Daniel's sacrifice. The archeologist had been alone in the world, his parents, his wife, his adopted family all gone. They did not know what had become of Daniel's only living relative, his grandfather, Nicholas Ballard. Doctor Ballard had not been heard from since choosing to stay with the aliens on P7X-377. A few months after leaving the elderly man there, Daniel went through the gate to check up on him, but there had been no sign of him. Daniel left a G.D.O. for his grandfather, along with a note written in Mayan giving the gate coordinates to Earth and explaining how the G.D.O. worked. In that way, if and when Nick was ready to come home, all he'd have to do was dial up the gate and send the signal. That had been well over three years ago.

The only real family Daniel had in the end was his team. Hammond knew that O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c all loved Daniel dearly and that the young man had loved them as well. Hammond just hoped that his number one team would be able to recover from this devastating loss. He knew it was going to take them a long time.

Hammond was especially worried about Jack. He had seen the look in the eyes of the colonel as the man fled the infirmary after Daniel's death. There had been a very similar expression on Jack's face when it was believed that Daniel had burned to death on Oannes. Back then, Jack's grief and depression drove him into considering retirement. What Hammond had seen on Jack's face this time was far worse. He knew that the colonel was blaming himself for Daniel's death. Would his guilt and grief drive him over the edge? Would Daniel's loss also result in the loss of another good man? The general could only hope and pray that didn't happen.

Hammond's intercom buzzed. "Sir? Doctor Fraiser is requesting your presence in the infirmary. She says it's urgent," his aide announced.

Concerned that his fear over Jack may have become a reality, General Hammond immediately left for the infirmary. When he got there, his eyes instantly went to the bed where Daniel Jackson spent his last hours of life. The curtain was drawn about it, and the general could see that someone was within the circle of cloth. Guessing that it was Samantha Carter and Teal'c saying their final farewells to their friend, he did not disturb them. Instead, he sought out Janet Fraiser. There was a strange amount of activity in the infirmary. During the last few minutes of Daniel's life, Doctor Fraiser had cleared all the nurses out of the room to give the archeologist and his friends complete privacy. There were no other patients, so it had been an easy thing to do. Now, however, there seemed to be an abundance of medical personnel in the room, and they all kept looking over in the direction of Daniel's bed, expressions of disbelief and, surprisingly, happiness on their faces. Puzzled, Hammond went to the C.M.O.'s office.

"General!" Janet exclaimed. "I'm glad you could come, sir. This is something that you need to see with your own eyes." She led him to Daniel's bed and opened the curtain. Hammond stared in stunned silence at the sight before him, his mouth falling open. There in the bed was a very much alive Daniel Jackson. He was grinning from ear to ear, looking shockingly healthy. Sam and Teal'c were also smiling, looking happier than the general had ever seen them.

"What on Earth?" Hammond turned to the doctor. "What's the explanation for this?"

"I honestly don't have one, sir," she admitted. "Daniel died. He was well and truly dead. Then, around twenty minutes later, he just . . . came back to life. It's the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. I've examined him, and, from what I've found so far, he's perfectly healthy. There is no sign at all of the illness."

A big smile lit Hammond's face. He stepped forward and laid a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "This is excellent news. I can't tell you how pleased I am to see you back among the living, Doctor Jackson. You never cease to amaze me."

Daniel gave him a big smile. "Thank you, sir." His expression grew serious. "We need to find Jack, General. I'm really worried about him."

"We don't know where he is, sir," Sam explained. "According to the checkpoints, he left the base right after Daniel's . . . death. His car is gone. He's not answering his cell phone. We've left messages on his home phone in case he goes there, but, quite frankly, I'm worried, too. Daniel's death hit him really hard. He blames himself for what happened. I'm afraid that he might . . . do something."

Hammond nodded soberly. "I'll send some men out and see if they can figure out where he's gone. I'll post one of them at the colonel's house. If we can't find him within the next few hours, I'll notify the local authorities to be on the lookout for him."

"I want to look, too," Daniel announced.

"Absolutely not," Janet said emphatically. "You are staying right there until I'm positive that you're really all right."

"Janet, I'm fine. You said so yourself that I'm perfectly healthy. I _know_ Jack. I know how he thinks. I might be able to figure out where he is."

"Daniel, not even half an hour ago you were _dead_. You can't just get up out of that bed like nothing happened."

The archeologist's expression hardened in determination. Before anyone could stop him, he was out of the bed and standing there, arms held out to either side. "Well, I just did, didn't I," he said. "There is nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. Janet, I have to find Jack. I can't just lie in bed when he is out there somewhere, thinking that I'm dead. If you're worried that I might have a relapse, then someone can come with me while I search. I need to do this. Please!"

"Teal'c and I can go with him," Sam offered. "We'll keep an eye on him. If he starts to get sick, we'll bring him right back."

Janet looked at all of them, then sighed in exasperation. "All right. This goes against every medical instinct I have, but I can see that I won't have a moment's rest until I let you do this." Her eyes narrowed, and she fixed Daniel with a steely gaze that would have many a man squirming. "I want your oath that if you have any discomfort at all, if you feel even the tiniest bit ill or the slightest hint of pain, you will immediately come back here. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Daniel replied meekly, bringing a faint smile to Sam's face.

Daniel was given some privacy while he dressed, then he, Sam and Teal'c left the base. They took Sam's vehicle and headed down the mountain. Daniel's mind was working frantically, trying to figure out where Jack might have gone. Knowing his friend like he did, Daniel guessed that Jack would want to be completely alone, someplace where he thought he wouldn't be disturbed. The fishing cabin in Minnesota was too far away for Jack to consider driving there in his emotional condition. He'd want someplace closer, somewhere he could get to fairly quickly.

They were passing an old dirt road when Daniel spotted something. "Whoa! Stop! Back up!" he shouted.

Sam slammed on the brakes. "What is it?"

"Back up to that dirt road we just passed." The major did so. "Look at the ground." Daniel pointed at the earth. "Aren't those tire tracks?"

"Indeed they are, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "From the appearances of them, they were made only a short time ago. Also, the brush that has grown over the road has recently been crushed from the weight of a vehicle."

"It's Jack. I know it is," Daniel said with conviction.

Sam slowly navigated her car down the road, trying to avoid the worst of the potholes and small gullies that had been worn into the dirt over the years. After several minutes, they all spied Jack's car, which was stopped at the end of the road. The three friends got out.

"There is evidence that O'Neill continued that way on foot," Teal'c said, pointing to where the brush was trampled. "It appears that he was moving with great haste."

Daniel looked at the evidence that his friend had gone running at full speed into the forest. "Stay here. I think I should go alone."

"Daniel, I don't think that's a good idea," Sam said. "Janet wants us to keep an eye on you."

"Sam, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to find when I reach Jack. I also know that he isn't going to want anyone seeing him like that, especially not you and Teal'c. Let me go to him alone, okay? I'll be all right."

Sam studied Daniel's face closely, then nodded. "All right. Here." She handed him a walkie talkie. "If you need help, call us."

Daniel made his way down the trail left by Jack. It was easy enough to follow, the colonel having made no effort to hide his passage through the forest. The archeologist had been walking for about ten minutes when he caught sight of something ahead. As he drew closer, he recognized the form of his friend. Jack was sitting on the ground, his back against a tree. His head was bowed, face hidden by his crossed arms, which were resting on his knees. His BDU's were torn in several places from his mad dash through the brush. There was blood spotting a couple of places.

Quietly, Daniel walked up to his friend. Jack gave no indication that he was aware of Daniel's approach, though the linguist was sure that the older man could hear him. He knelt on the ground a couple of feet away.

"Jack?" he said softly. His friend's body stiffened. "Jack, it's me. I'm here."

Very slowly Jack's head lifted, and he looked at Daniel. His eyes were terribly bloodshot, dry tear tracks making rivulets through the dirt on his face.

"Daniel?" he rasped.

Daniel smiled gently. "Yeah."

"You . . . you. . . . D-Did you ascend again?"

Daniel's smile widened. "Nope. Better. I got resurrected. You know, sort of like Lazarus, except that I was only dead for twenty minutes rather than three days. And I also have doubts that God had anything to do with it, although, at this point, I wouldn't rule that out entirely."

Afraid to hope, yet so desperately wanting to, Jack reached a hand out and came in contact with a very solid, very much alive Daniel Jackson. "Oh, God," he whispered. Then he was suddenly crushing Daniel in a tight embrace. He buried his head in the crook of Daniel's shoulder and just held him.

Daniel closed his eyes and held onto Jack. It was a long time before the older man drew back. He cupped Daniel's cheek in his hand, his eyes running over his best friend's face as if he still couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"You're really alive," he said in wonder.

"Yeah, I really am."

"How?"

"Janet's still trying to figure that one out. Right now, she has no idea. Neither do I. All we know is that, somehow, something brought me back."

Jack grinned. "I'm beginning to think that it's impossible to kill you, Danny Boy. You just keep coming back. It's becoming quite a habit for you."

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer it if I didn't keep dying in the first place. It's getting rather annoying."

Jack laughed. "That it is, Daniel. That it is."

"Shall we get out of here?"

"Sure."

They rose to their feet.

"Um . . . Sam and Teal'c are with me," Daniel said. "They're waiting at the road. You, uh . . . might want to do something about your face."

Jack's mouth twisted into a grimace. "Pretty bad, huh?"

Daniel smiled in understanding. "Yeah. It doesn't bother me, but I figured that you might want to maintain that tough Colonel O'Neill image in front of the others. I think I hear some running water over that way."

The two men followed their ears to a tiny stream, where Jack washed his face. The water did nothing to fix his bloodshot eyes, but he looked better. Jack thought about donning his sunglasses but decided against it. It was an overcast day, and wearing the glasses wouldn't fool anyone. Besides, he was tired of hiding behind his tough military facade. If everyone on the base ended up finding out that he'd been crying, then so be it. He could go back to being tough later. Right now, he was too happy to have Daniel back. 


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Daniel and Jack returned to the others. Both Sam and Teal'c were able to tell right off that their C.O. had been crying, but neither one of them would dream of saying anything. Sam then noticed the blood on the colonel's BDU's.

"Are you all right, sir?" she asked, pointing at the blood.

In surprise, Jack looked down at himself. He hadn't even felt the injuries. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. Shall we get back to the base?"

They returned to the SGC and went straight to the infirmary. Janet was all over Daniel, checking him out to make sure he was okay.

"The results I got back from the blood tests show some unusual chemical anomalies," she told him. "To be honest, I can't give you an explanation for them or what would cause the anomalies, but my guess is that, whatever it was that cured you, the anomalies are either a byproduct or were a part of the process."

"Are the anomalies something to worry about?" Sam asked.

"I don't think so. Daniel still appears to be completely healthy. But I'm going to want to keep an eye on this, run the tests again in a day or two. Daniel, I'd like you to spend the night in the infirmary, just to be safe."

"Janet, there is no reason for me to stay here. I feel fine. In fact, I've never felt better. You just finished saying that I'm perfectly healthy and that you don't think the anomalies are anything to worry about. I've already promised you that if I feel sick at all, I'll come see you."

Janet opened her mouth to argue her case.

"Ah, come on, Doc," Jack said. "He just got resurrected from the dead after spending almost the whole day lying here in the infirmary hooked up to a million pieces of equipment and being poked and prodded endlessly. Can't you give him a break?"

Janet thought about it for a long moment. "All right." She focused her gaze on Daniel. "But I'm extracting another oath from you. I want you to relax for the remainder of the day. No work whatsoever. Understand?"

Daniel smiled. "I think I can handle that."

Shooing him, Sam and Teal'c out of the infirmary, Janet cleaned and bandaged the cuts and abrasions on Jack's legs, shaking her head over every one. After finishing, she looked up into his eyes.

"Are you okay, sir?" she asked softly.

Jack smiled slightly. "I am now."

Janet nodded in understanding. "We all love him, Colonel. He's very special to us. It was . . . very hard watching him die. No matter how many times we've lost him, or almost lost him, it never gets easier."

"No, it doesn't. But Daniel's a survivor. He always seems to make it back, one way or another."

The doctor smiled. "Yes, he does." She looked at him more closely, seeing the lingering redness in his eyes. "Sir, what happened to Daniel wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself for it."

Jack said nothing for so long that Janet thought he wasn't going to reply. "Yes, I can," he finally responded. "If I had listened to Daniel in the first place and not made him go into that temple, he wouldn't have gotten sick."

"You couldn't have known that it was dangerous, that that thing was in there."

"But I _should_ have known. That's the whole point. I should have known or at least been willing to believe that something was wrong. Daniel was warning us about that place, but I refused to even consider that he was right. I should have known better. Daniel has an annoying tendency of being right ninety-nine percent of the time. That should have taught me to listen to what he was saying."

"All right. Do you know why you didn't?" Janet asked gently.

"I have no idea. Looking back on it now, I can see how stupid and totally unreasonable I was during that whole incident. I really don't know why I got so angry."

Janet thought about what he was saying. "Colonel, is it possible that you were being affected by this Bendrak, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Daniel could sense that thing's presence, and it was making him uncharacteristically nervous and jumpy. It might be possible that Bendrak's presence was affecting you in a different way, causing you to become irrationally angry. There are all kinds of things that can affect a person's mood. Certain sounds, smells, even colors can positively or negatively affect us. Things that we can't see, hear or smell with our senses can cause imbalances in the chemicals within our brains and bodies and result in significant mood swings. You remember what happened on PJ2-445?"

"Um, is that the planet with those weird little naked guys and the plants that made the sound that made me and Daniel get sick and really irritable? You think that something like that is the reason for me going ballistic?"

"It's very possible. I do know that, when Daniel was sick, tests showed that certain chemicals in his brain were highly elevated whereas some others were abnormally low. Those abnormal levels could have affected his mood. All of you showed mild imbalances as well, and it's possible that those imbalances were much worse earlier on. I think you need to discuss this with the others. You might learn that you were all being affected to a certain extent."

"Yeah, I think I'll do that." He looked down at the doctor's handiwork on his legs. "So, you done with me?"

"I sure am." She handed him a tube of antibacterial ointment. "You know the drill."

Jack made a face. "Yeah, I've dealt with it often enough. I don't need the tube, though. I've still got stuff left over from the last time . . . and the time before that, and the time before that, etcetera, etcetera."

Janet gave him an amused smile.

Jack left the infirmary and headed to the locker room. He washed himself as best as he could without getting the bandages on his cuts wet, then donned clean fatigues. He suddenly realized that he was famished and headed for the commissary. He was delighted to see the rest of his team at one of the tables. He paused a moment when he thought about the fact that, officially, Daniel was no longer a member of SG-1. Something would have to be done about that.

Filling his tray with food, the colonel joined the others. "This seat taken?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," Daniel replied with a smile, "though we've had a few visitors."

The archeologist's words made Jack look around. Most of the other personnel in the commissary kept glancing over at Daniel, some in whispered conversations with others. Obviously, word of his death and miraculous resurrection had spread throughout the base.

"If you're not careful, Daniel, everyone's going to start calling _you_ Lazarus," Jack said with a smirk.

"Oh, some of them already do," Daniel informed him. "That little nickname made the rounds after I descended."

Sam grinned. "Well, you do have to admit that you've got quite a track record for dying, then coming back to life."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Daniel shoved a mouthful of food in.

"Perhaps you are one of the Immortals on that television series who can only die if they are decapitated," Teal'c said in a perfectly serious tone of voice.

Daniel choked on his food. Coughing and sputtering, he grabbed his water as Sam patted his back. Jack was trying hard not to laugh.

Finally able to talk, Daniel stared at the Jaffa, grinning. "That was funny, Teal'c."

Getting in on the fun, Sam cocked her head and looked at him. "I don't know, Daniel. Maybe he has a point. I mean, look at all the times you've come back from the dead. Being an Immortal certainly would explain it."

"We could shoot him to test the theory," Jack added.

"Yeah, well, just don't spread this around, okay?" Daniel requested. "I don't want homicidal guys with big swords coming after me. My robot self already lost his head. I really don't want to lose mine."

They resumed eating their meal. After a while, Jack decided to bring up the topic he and Janet had discussed. Glancing at Daniel often, he recounted the conversation. There was silence at the table for a while after he was finished.

"I think Janet may be right," Sam stated. "On the planet, after you yelled at Daniel, I, um, got really angry."

"How angry?" Jack asked.

"_Really_ angry, sir. Angry enough that I might have done something that would have resulted in a court-martial if you had been anywhere I could see you."

"Oh. That angry, huh?" Jack said, thinking that he might have retained the ability to father children because of his decision to send Carter off alone to check the area.

"I, too, experienced extreme anger after the incident between you and Daniel Jackson," Teal'c admitted.

"Yeah, you already told me about the whole breaking multiple bones thing."

Daniel had been silent throughout the conversation. Jack now looked at him. "So, what about you, Daniel? Did you have the urge to break bones or harm portions of my anatomy that I have a particular fondness for?"

"Actually, I was just thinking of knocking a few teeth out, maybe breaking your nose," the archeologist replied.

"Is that all? Daniel, you're just too nice a guy. In your shoes, I'd probably have been considering doing what they did to Mel Gibson in Braveheart." He looked at his team. "Okay, so we have established that I'm darn lucky I didn't end up in the infirmary right alongside Daniel. There has got to be a life lesson in there somewhere."

"I wonder if Bendrak affects the natives in the same way," Daniel murmured, wondering if what Bendrak did to him was the reason why he'd completely lost control of his emotions and said all those things to Jack. Thinking about what he'd said, he recognized that he definitely had not been acting normally. Never in a million years would he have said those things if he'd been himself.

Sam shook her head. "I feel so stupid now. We should have known right off that something was going on. When the colonel started acting like he did, I couldn't figure out why, but it never even crossed my mind that some alien force could be the reason, not even when you said that you sensed that something was wrong. After all the things we've seen, after all we've been through, we should have known that something wasn't right." She couldn't help but think about what happened when Daniel was infested by Machello's Goa'uld killer, which caused him to suffer hallucinations, yet another time when they should have guessed right off that something alien was to blame.

"Sam, if Janet's right, we were all being affected by Bendrak," Daniel responded. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I do know that I wasn't thinking all that clearly and rationally, much less logically. Besides, even if we'd figured out sooner that some kind of alien force was affecting us, it wouldn't have helped me. I'd still have gotten sick."

"Not if I'd listened to you and not made you go into that temple," Jack said, regret heavy in his voice.

Daniel stared at him, unsure what to say. If either Sam or Teal'c had suspected at that time that an alien force was at work and said something to Jack, would he have listened to them and not had his blow up? Maybe. The archeologist wasn't going to say that, though. All it would accomplish was to make his teammates feel even worse.

"The point is that everything turned out okay," he said instead. "We're all alive and well. That's what matters."

At that moment, a huge yawn snuck up on him.

"You should get some sleep, Daniel," Sam said. "It's been quite a day for you."

The linguist gave her a slight smile. "Yeah, it has, hasn't it. I really don't feel like staying here, though. I guess I'll have someone drive me home since I know that Janet would have a cow if I drove myself."

"Are you allowed to go home?" Jack asked.

"Um, Janet didn't say I couldn't, but that might have been an oversight on her part."

"Well, we won't say anything if you don't." The colonel stood. "Come on. I'll take you home. Better yet, I'll take you to my house, and you can stay in the guest room. Janet may not fume as much if she knows I was keeping an eye on you."

"Jack, I'm okay. I don't need babysitting."

"Daniel."

Just that one word, spoken in that tone of voice the archeologist knew so well, told him that Jack was not going to take no for an answer. He heaved a loud sigh. "All right, you win. I'll be your houseguest for tonight, but _only_ for tonight."

"Wow, that was easy. You've never been that easy before. Be still my heart," Jack murmured.

"Calm down, Jack. It wasn't a proposition," Daniel retorted.

The look on the colonel's face was absolutely priceless and almost had Sam bursting into laughter.

"Proposition for what, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, puzzled.

"Never you mind!" Jack snapped, actually looking embarrassed. "Come on, Daniel, before I decide to test this Immortal theory myself."

Hiding a smirk, Daniel followed Jack out of the commissary. He felt good. In fact, he felt great, like some huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He realized that in the last few hours he'd had more heart to heart talks than he'd had the better part of his life. Since childhood, he'd felt a need to keep his deepest feelings to himself, never talking about them with others. Not even Sha're had been able to get him to fully open up. He knew, in time, he might to go back to the way he was before, to become that man who kept his deepest fears and pain hidden inside, but, at that moment, he really didn't want to do that. He felt freer now that he had in nearly thirty years.

But there was more to it than a feeling of emotional freedom. For the first time since losing Sha're to the Goa'uld, Daniel felt like he was really, truly going to be all right. He'd made peace with himself, come to terms with his failures and realized that he'd had a lot of successes, too. More than that, he really knew now that what Oma had told him was right. She had helped with that, enough that he'd been able to ascend, but it wasn't until now that it had truly sunk in, and he could fully take it to heart.

A few months ago, Daniel had told Teal'c that he finally felt like he was really a part of something, something important. Though that was true, there had still been a feeling of . . . incompleteness, a feeling that there were still things missing in his life that he needed to truly be happy. Today, he had found what he needed, and it was all right here, in his work, in his life with the Stargate Program, and, most importantly, in his friends. There were still things that he wanted very, very much, but he knew that he could be content without them. What he had was enough.

The two men changed into their civvies in the locker room.

"Jack, I want to get my journal. Can we run over to my office?" Daniel asked.

"Hey, you heard the doc. No working."

"I'm not going to work, Jack. I want to get my personal journal."

"Oh. Well, okay, then. I want to grab something from my office, too, so let's just meet at the elevator." Jack waved his finger. "And don't go getting involved with something in your office and make me come get you, Daniel. You've got five minutes."

Daniel gave him a cocky salute. "Yes, sir!" he said, somehow making the honorific sound anything but respectful. Jack chose to ignore the tone of voice.

"Hey, I think I could get used to hearing you call me 'sir'. Yep, wouldn't mind that at all."

"Well, treasure that memory, Jack. It's the only one you'll likely get."

Jack smiled as he watched Daniel walk away. _'Definitely a pain in the ass, but I wouldn't give him up for all the Goa'uld killing weapons in the universe.' _

He turned toward his own office, but stopped when he heard Sam calling him.

"Hey, sir. I thought that you and Daniel would be gone by now," she said.

"Daniel wanted to get his journal, and I wanted to pick up something from my office as well."

"Ah. Um . . . sir, could I walk with you? There's something I want to tell you."

Jack looked at her closely, then nodded. They walked in silence for a little while. Sam appeared to be trying to decide something. Finally, she looked at him.

"Sir, when I was talking with Daniel that last time in the infirmary, he said some things that I think you should know. He told me that, before he ascended, he felt like a failure, that all the things he'd done in his life had been for nothing."

Jack came to an abrupt halt, staring at her. "What?! You've got to be kidding!"

"No, sir, I'm not. Daniel didn't believe that he deserved ascension."

"Well, that has got to be the all time stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I know. I don't understand how Daniel could feel that way. He told me that he doesn't feel like that anymore. He knows that he's not a failure, that he did do some good. But, sir, what he said makes me think that he still believes he's not all that important, that his contributions to the program haven't been all that big."

Jack's expression firmed into determination. "Thanks for telling me, Carter. It looks like I'm going to have to have another chat with Daniel."

"I hope he listens to you, sir. Daniel needs to know how important he is, not only to us, but to the program."

They parted company and Jack went onto his office. When he returned to the elevator, it was to see Daniel already there. The archeologist pointedly looked at his watch.

"Not one word, Daniel," the colonel warned.

Giving him a smirk, the archeologist pushed the button for the elevator.

Daniel was quiet on the way home, his eyes gazing out into the darkness beyond the passenger side window. Jack kept glancing at him, finding himself honestly analyzing his feelings for the younger man for the first time. There was no one word, no single term that could sum up how he felt about Daniel. Daniel was, without a doubt, his best friend. There wasn't anyone else in his life who could hold that position. But that wasn't enough to describe Jack's feelings. Daniel was like the brother he never had, the annoying baby brother who was always such a royal pain, yet whom Jack would protect to the last breath against anyone who sought to harm him.

But, no matter how he looked at it, there was no denying that he cared a great deal about Daniel. How it happened he'd never know. He and Daniel were nothing alike. They were polar opposites. Yet, somehow, the archeologist had wormed his way past all of Jack's defenses and implanted himself in the heart that Jack had closed up tight after the day a shot rang out and shattered his happy life.

And, right now, right at that moment, he was not the least bit sorry about it.

By the time they got to Jack's place, Daniel was asleep, his head resting against the window. Jack parked the car and turned off the engine. He sat and stared at the younger man for a long moment, then he gently shook Daniel's shoulder. The linguist lifted his head and blinked, looking about owlishly.

"Come on," Jack said, opening his door. "There's a bed with your name on it just waiting for you."

They went into the house and took turns in the bathroom. Jack loaned Daniel a pair of sweats to use as sleepwear, and the archeologist headed off to the guest room, Jack following him. He watched his friend climb into the bed.

"Good night, Daniel," he said, moving to the light switch.

"Jack?" came a soft voice.

The colonel turned back. "Yeah?"

Daniel looked at him for a long, silent moment. "Thanks . . . for everything."

Jack felt a little twinge in his heart as he remembered the last time Daniel had spoken those words, moments before the younger man disappeared through the blinding white light of a Stargate on another plane of existence.

"No, Daniel. Thank _you_," Jack murmured, "for everything."

With a little smile, Daniel closed his eyes and snuggled beneath the covers. Jack turned out the light, closed the door, and headed off to bed. 


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Daniel was still asleep when Jack got up the next morning. The colonel checked on him to make sure he was okay, then took a shower and got dressed. As he was drinking his morning coffee, he decided to call the base and leave a message for the general, requesting the day off for his team, including Daniel. The mission that they had been due to go on this morning had been rescheduled for tomorrow, so there was no reason why they couldn't take the day off. While he was at it, he called down to Sam's office. Surprisingly, she wasn't there yet, so Jack called her house.

"Hey, Carter. Whatcha doing there? I thought you lived at the base." Jack said when she answered the phone, only half-joking.

"As much as it may surprise you, sir, I do actually go home on occasion."

The corners of Jack's mouth turned up. "Wasn't in the mood to work, huh?"

There was a pause. "No, sir. I . . . had a lot to think about."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, I'm going to play hooky with Daniel today. Wanna join us?"

"Sure. That sounds nice. Do you have any plans?"

"Nope. We're going to play it by ear."

"Play what by ear?" asked a sleepy voice. Jack turned to see a tousle-headed Daniel standing just inside the kitchen, looking for all the world like a little boy just having been awakened from sleep.

"Carter and I are planning our day off," Jack told him.

"Day off? You're taking the day off?"

"No, _we're_ taking the day off, as in you, me, Carter and Teal'c."

"We are? I thought you had a mission scheduled for this morning."

"It's been moved to tomorrow. A little downtime will do us all some good."

Braced for an argument, Jack was stunned when Daniel said, "Okay. Sounds good."

Jack stared at him in surprise. "Okay? You're not going to argue, say you have translations to do or rocks to study?"

"No, I think a day off is a good idea."

Jack turned his attention back to the phone. "Carter, there's a pod person in my kitchen. Call the marines."

Sam laughed. "When should I come over, sir?"

"An hour?"

"I'll be there. Are you going to call Teal'c or should I?"

"You go ahead, Major. I need to fix Danny Boy here some breakfast. A growing boy needs nourishment."

"Danny Boy" made a face at him, almost sticking out his tongue.

After ending the call, Jack started breakfast as Daniel went off to take his shower. The archeologist came back dressed in some clothes left over from the last time he stayed with Jack. He immediately headed to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He took a deep whiff of the brew.

"Hey, you fixed the good stuff," he said in delight, taking an appreciative sip.

"Of course. I only have that pricey stuff here for you." Jack carried platters full of eggs, bacon and toast to the table. "Grab that pitcher of orange juice, will ya?"

The men sat down to breakfast. There was silence for several moments as they ate.

"It's been a while since we did this," Daniel commented.

"Yes, it has, not since after you came back."

Daniel nodded. When he descended, he had once again been in the position of having no place to live. Thankfully, unlike when he'd been on Abydos for a year, he had not been penniless and dead in the eyes of the world. He had been declared MIA, so all his assets, including the money in his bank account, had been kept safe in case he returned someday. But it had not been possible to keep his apartment, so Daniel had again been left without a place to live. He stayed with Jack until they found a new place for him.

"Daniel?"

The linguist snapped his mind back to the present. "Hmm?"

"Um . . . about your transfer."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess I need to talk to Hammond about that, don't I."

Jack looked at his plate. "You want to come back to SG-1?"

Daniel put down his fork. "Jack, I'm sorry about that whole thing. I was really angry and upset, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I shouldn't have transferred."

Jack played around with his food. "So . . . we're okay? I mean, all that stuff that was said. . . ."

"Yeah, we're okay, Jack."

The colonel nodded, still not looking at Daniel. Finally, he sighed, put his fork down, and lifted his head to meet his friend's gaze. "I guess we should talk about it."

"That's not necessary."

"I think maybe it is. All that anger of yours came from somewhere, Daniel. You must have really had those feelings about . . . about the way I've treated you in the past."

"Jack, we don't—"

"Daniel, I don't talk about these things very often, so just let me do this, okay?"

Daniel searched his eyes and nodded.

"I, uh, heard you and Carter talking in your office."

The archeologist's eyes fell to his mostly empty plate. "Oh."

"Yeah. It . . . upset me to hear you say those things. It hurt a lot to think that you believed our friendship was over."

"Jack—"

"Ah!" Jack said, holding up his finger. "What did I say?" Daniel shut up. "That's better." He looked at his friend intently. "Daniel, I have _never_ considered you to be of no value. I'm so sorry that I made you feel that way. You are most definitely _not_ worthless, not to me and not to the SGC. Just the opposite, in fact." Jack leaned forward, arms on the table. "Daniel, don't you have any clue how much we owe to you, how important your contribution has been to us? Well, let me tell you. If it wasn't for you, I have no doubt that this planet would now be either a smoking ruin or enslaved by the Goa'uld."

"Jack, you really don't have to say this. I know that when I went through the Quantum Mirror—"

"No, I'm not talking about that . . . well, not entirely. Yes, the fact that you ended up going to that alternate reality and finding out about the attack then coming back with that gate address did save us from the same fate, but it goes beyond that. When that alternate Carter and Kawalsky came through to our reality, they said that ours was one of the only Earths they'd seen through the mirror that appeared not to have been overrun by the Goa'uld. Why do you think that we're one of the lucky ones?"

"Well, it's like Sam said at the debriefing. It's because of the ways that our reality differed, Teal'c coming over to our side, Sam being in the military—"

"You being part of the Stargate Program," Jack added with emphasis. "Daniel, you remember when the two Carters were working on that power booster thing? Well, I decided to go check on how they were doing and happened to overhear a conversation between them, and I think it's about time that someone tells you about it." He then recalled to Daniel what he heard that day.

_"I was wondering about Doctor Jackson," Doctor Carter said. "Who is he? How did he get involved?" _

_"Daniel's the one who opened our Stargate," Sam replied. _

_Doctor Carter looked at her in surprise. "He is? You didn't open it?" _

_"No, but not for lack of trying. I'd been working on the project for two years with Catherine Langford, trying to get the gate to work. Catherine finally decided that we needed a fresh mind. She'd heard about Daniel. He's an archeologist, anthropologist and linguist and an expert on Egyptian history and mythology. He speaks twenty-three Earth languages and can read I don't know how many forms of ancient Earth writing. He is, quite simply, the most brilliant person I have ever known. You'd be amazed by his intelligence." _

_"You really care about him," Doctor Carter said. _

_Sam smiled. "Yes, I do. He's my best friend. We get along really well together." _

_"So, Catherine brought Daniel in on the project. How long did it take him to figure things out?" _

_"Two weeks." _

_Doctor Carter's mouth dropped open. "Two weeks?" _

_"Uh huh. But it's even more amazing than you think. When he figured it out, he had no idea that the gate even existed and was not allowed to see any of our work to date, except for the translation of the hieroglyphics, which, by the way, Daniel immediately corrected. The project had been made classified, and all information became restricted. Working only from the symbols on the coverstone and having no knowledge of the gate, Daniel managed to identify the seventh symbol, which had been eluding us, figured out that the symbols were actually star constellations, and determined what the purpose of the symbols was." _

_"Wow," Doctor Carter said, clearly impressed. _

_"Yeah. I have no doubt that, if Daniel had been told about the gate, he'd have cracked the whole thing within a few hours, maybe less. I've seen him come up with answers to problems and riddles in a matter of seconds. He was the one who figured out the reason why we couldn't get the gate to work for any world besides Abydos." _

_Doctor Carter nodded. "Stellar drift. I figured that one out pretty much by accident." _

_"Well, I worked on it for a year after we finally opened the gate and didn't think of it." Sam smiled again. "If Daniel had been around, we'd probably have had the answer in a few days." _

_"Why wasn't he around?" _

_"He stayed behind on Abydos. He met a woman there named Sha're and married her." _

_"Really? Jack told me about a woman named Sha'uri and her brother, Skaara. Could she be the same woman?" _

_Sam nodded. "Sha'uri was Sha're's maiden name. The Abydonian custom is for a married woman to change her name one month after the wedding. That first month is sort of like the newlywed period. At the end of it, there's a ceremony celebrating the end of the woman's maidenhood. Daniel explained the significance of the difference between the names Sha'uri and Sha're, but I don't remember it all." _

_"The Sha'uri of our reality was killed by one of Ra's men. So was her brother." _

_"Well, in ours, they both survived. In fact, Daniel saved Sha're after she was shot with a staff weapon by putting her in Ra's sarcophagus. Anyway, Daniel decided to stay on Abydos. While he was there, he found a kind of map room that had thousands of gate addresses." _

_Doctor Carter's interest heightened. "He did? We never found anything like that. We pretty much charted worlds by chance, dialing combinations at random." _

_"Well, that map room was like a gold mine for us." _

_"That was a lucky break. So, why did Daniel decide to return to Earth?" _

_Sam's face filled with sorrow. "A year later, Sha're was taken by the Goa'uld. They took Skaara, too. Daniel was determined to find and rescue them. He, Colonel O'Neill, Kawalsky and I went to a planet called Chulak, which was where Sha're and Skaara had been taken." _

_"You didn't find them, did you," Doctor Carter guessed. _

_"No, we did find them, but it was too late. Sha're had been made the host for Apophis' queen, and Skaara the host for his son, Klorel." _

_"Oh, no. Poor Daniel." _

_"Yeah. It devastated him. And the loss of Skaara hurt the colonel, too. He really cared about the kid. But Chulak is also where we met Teal'c. Colonel O'Neill was able to tell that Teal'c didn't like what the Goa'uld were doing and managed to convince him to turn against them and join us. Since then, we've been traveling from world to world, using the addresses that Daniel found on Abydos, and, later, ones that we obtained on another world we went to." _

_"And, in the process of going to all those worlds, you met the Asgard." _

_Sam nodded. "Without them, we probably wouldn't be here now. Thanks to the Asgard, Earth is a protected planet. The Goa'uld can't attack us." An expression of realization came to her face. "You know, I just realized something. Remember how I said before that it was the differences in our universe that contributed to our survival? Thinking about it, the one thing above all that has made our universe so different from yours is the fact that we have Daniel. Daniel found the map room that gave us all those gate addresses. It was because of him and what happened on Abydos that we went to Chulak and, therefore, met Teal'c and brought him to our side. Because of the addresses that Daniel found we came in contact with the Asgard and the Tok'ra, another powerful ally. And it was Daniel who went through the Quantum Mirror and was able to not only warn us of the impending attack, but also give us an address that took us to one of the attacking ships, thereby allowing us to destroy the ships. You know that other reality that Daniel went through to? They didn't have him either, and they met the same fate as your reality." _

_Doctor Carter nodded. "You're right. It's amazing when you think about it, that just one person could make such a difference." _

_"Yes, it is." _

_"I wish we'd been lucky enough to have Daniel. Maybe it would have made the difference for us as well. I wonder if he's still alive in my reality." _

_"If he is, you should find him and get to know him. If your Daniel is like ours, I can guarantee that you will be happy you did." _

Jack studied Daniel's face as he finished relaying what he had heard. "It's like they said, Daniel. It's because of you that we're not all dead and Earth is free from the Goa'uld. If you hadn't been with us, so many things would have been different. In addition to what the Carters said, a lot of the technology that we've managed to get our hands on wouldn't have been found if we hadn't had all those gate addresses. For example, I doubt we'd have the F-302 or the Prometheus. Any way you look at it, we'd have been a hell of a lot worse off if you had never come through the doors of this base."

Daniel shook his head. "Even if you're right, that's just because of the way things played out, because I decided to accept Catherine's offer instead of turning her down. A lot of major turning points have happened in history because of a simple decision on someone's part."

"Yeah, you're right about that. But, putting that aside for now, you're still failing to see what I'm getting at. A lot of the successes we've had, the advances we've made, were because you were with us, with SG-1. Your abilities and knowledge, your personality, your code of ethics, the whole . . . who and what you are, has played an integral part in where we are today. Let me give you a few examples. First of all, I know for an absolute fact that, if it hadn't been for you and your brains, Carter and I would be dead, frozen popsicles lying in that cave in Antarctica. That was you all the way, Daniel. Both the general and Teal'c told me about how it was you who figured it all out and how you wouldn't rest until you'd found us. We owe you big time for that one. Of course, then there's that alternate reality thing. The whole planet owes you for that one. You never told me the details, but I know that you talked those people in that alternate reality into giving up their last shot at escape so that you could get back to our reality and save our world. That couldn't have been easy. And you translated that message that gave us the gate address to Apophis' ship. You are the _only_ one who could have done that. If it had been me, or Carter, or anyone else who went through to that reality instead of you, we'd have found out about the attack, but there's not a damn thing we could have done to stop it."

Jack leaned his elbows on the table. "It was you, you and Carter, who succeeded in passing Thor's challenges in that Hall of Thor's Might place and gave us our first introduction to the Asgard. Because of you, neither Heru'ur nor Apophis got their hands on Sha're's kid after he was born. Moving on from there, without you we'd probably never have found Seth, that Goa'uld who was hiding out here on Earth. You even surprised Jacob that time. Because of you, we met the Ancients. It is because of you that there may be a day when we'll have a new ally in the Gadmeer. And because of you, we're now actually friends with the Unas, and who knows what that will mean for our future." Jack paused. "You know, I could go on like this for the next hour and still not cover it all. What I'm trying to say is that you were and are an essential part of SG-1 and the SGC. You've done a whole lot of good, Daniel, and . . . and I'm proud of you."

Stunned at Jack's final statement, Daniel just stared at him. Then a warm feeling suffused him. He'd never realized how much he had longed to hear those words until just that moment.

"I. . . . Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that."

"Yeah, well, I should have said it a long time ago. I should have said a lot of things a long time ago." Jack met Daniel's gaze for a moment longer, then slapped his hands against his thighs and stood up. "Well, that's enough of the touchy feely stuff. I don't wanna OD. Finish your breakfast before it gets cold."

"Yes, Dad," Daniel murmured with a faint smile.

"Watch it, buster. I may be older, but I could still clean the floor with you."

Jack took his own plate to the sink and rinsed it off, a smile coming to his face. He had Daniel back, and everything was going to be okay.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sam and Teal'c both arrived right on time.

"So, any idea yet what we're going to do?" the major asked.

"Well, my original plan for the day was just to stay home, but I'd say that plan has changed," Daniel replied.

Jack looked at him. "Original plan?"

"Yeah, I'd already requested today off."

"And you saw fit not to tell me? I am your C.O., you know."

"Um, no, actually, you're not, not at the moment and not when I requested the time off. Besides, I didn't really get the opportunity to tell you," his lips curled upward, "and you were having too much fun this morning thinking that you'd performed a miracle on the scale of parting the Red Seas when you thought you had talked me into taking a day off."

Sam grinned, seeing the colonel's expression cycle between irritation and sarcasm.

"Okay, so Moses I'm not," he said at last. He turned to the others. "Let's get out of here before I reenact the tenth plague on the Jackson family."

Making a spur-of-the-moment decision, the colonel decided that they should go to Denver. They all piled into his car and took the seventy-mile trip, chatting pleasantly along the way. They spent the day hitting some of the hot spots in the city. Jack even agreed to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which pleased both Daniel and Sam. The major was thrilled at the chance to go to the new Space Odyssey exhibit, and Jack had to admit that he had a good time there, too. Both he and Sam took turns piloting a model space shuttle, attempting to dock it. The colonel also had fun taking the controls of a robotic rover, one of the tiny robots used to explore the surface of Mars. While in the exhibit, Sam often went into one of her scientific spiels, explaining the exhibits in far greater detail than the information the museum had. While Jack, as usual, mostly tuned her out, Daniel listened attentively, even though he did not understand a lot of what she was saying.

Daniel, of course, wanted to go straight to the Egyptian Mummies exhibit. Once there, he launched into his own detailed lecture on everything in the exhibit. This time, Jack made an effort to pay attention and was actually surprised when he learned some things that interested him. Daniel also displayed a great deal of knowledge at the North American Indian Cultures Exhibit.

Throughout the day, Jack noticed that Sam seldom strayed from Daniel's side. She touched him frequently and was constantly smiling at him or laughing about something. Daniel, too, was a lot more tactile than usual and smiled more in two hours than he usually did in two years. There were several times when he grabbed Sam's hand and dragged her off, grinning, to see something. It made Jack feel good to see his "kids" happy.

"They're such a cute couple," a nearby voice said. Jack looked down to see an elderly woman gazing at Daniel and Sam warmly. "It's always easy to spot the ones who are in love."

Jack blinked in shock. "Excuse me?"

The woman looked up at him. "You act surprised." She studied him more closely. "You're not old enough to be the father of one of them. An older brother perhaps?"

"Uh, no, just a friend and . . . coworker."

The elderly lady looked a bit dismayed. "Oh, dear. I hope I didn't get them into trouble. I know that some companies don't like it when coworkers become romantically involved with each other."

"Uhhh, they're not, um . . . they're not involved with each other like that," Jack told her, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"They're not? I'm usually pretty good at spotting things like that. I was certain they were a couple."

Jack turned back to Daniel and Sam and watched them with new eyes. Seeing them together, the way they reacted to each other, the obvious closeness of their relationship, it suddenly dawned on him that they did look like a couple. That thought surprised the hell out of him.

During the rest of their time at the museum, Jack watched Daniel and Sam together. He had known that the two youngest members of his team were very close. They always seemed to get along so well with each other, their brilliant minds seemingly able to connect on a level that Jack would never understand. He remembered times when one of them would leave a sentence unfinished and the other would somehow know what they were saying. And when the two of them put their heads together to discuss something or to solve some problem, it was enough to make Jack feel dizzy. They had very compatible personalities, two passionate workaholics who could still see the world with wide-eyed wonder, despite the horrors they had witnessed and experienced. It stunned Jack to realize that Daniel and Sam would actually make a very good couple. They were perfectly suited for each other.

So, how did he feel about that? If he was honest with himself, he'd admit that his first reaction was jealousy. He had feelings for Sam, feelings that an Air Force officer should not have for someone under his command. He was also pretty sure that those feelings were unrequited. A few years ago, he wasn't quite so sure about that. Jack had gotten the feeling that Sam did feel something for him, though he didn't know the extent of those feelings. When they went through the Zatark testing the second time, Sam did not say she had romantic feelings for Jack, only admitting that she was attracted to him and that she knew how the colonel felt about her.

A lot had happened since then. Over the past two years or so, Jack had seen no hint that Sam felt anything for him except friendship and respect for a superior officer. He'd kept a tight rein on his own emotions, never letting them show. But the emotions were still there, though he knew that nothing could ever come of them. Even if Sam was interested in him like that, they could never do anything about it, not as long as they were in the same chain of command. He wasn't ready to retire yet, and he certainly was not willing to put in for a transfer, and neither was Sam. So any hope of a relationship between them was pretty much nil, at least for the foreseeable future.

Jack thought about that other Samantha Carter, the one who had been married to the Jack of her reality. That Sam had been a different person, a woman who had never wanted to be in the military, a woman who had made different choices in her life. Jack looked back at Daniel and Sam. And that Sam had never known Doctor Daniel Jackson.

"Are you unwell, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, interrupting the colonel's thoughts. "You have grown quiet and pensive."

"What? Uh, no, I'm fine. Just thinking about something."

Teal'c looked over at the two people Jack had been staring at. "You have at last seen the truth."

"What? Huh? What are you talking about?"

"It came to my attention long ago what is between Daniel Jackson and Major Carter."

Jack gaped at the Jaffa. "You . . . you what?"

"I have watched them over the years and have seen their closeness. I believe there is a phrase used by the Tau'ri that suits them. Their kalesh are mated."

"Kalesh?"

"Souls."

"You mean they're soul mates?"

"Yes."

"Soul mates."

"Do you not think that the term is appropriate, O'Neill?"

"I. . . . To be honest, I don't know. I never thought about it before. I never thought about them like that. I know they're good friends, but. . . ."

"But you did not think that they could be more than that." Teal'c fixed the colonel with a penetrating stare. "Perhaps it is that you did not wish to see it."

Jack was silent for a long moment. "Yeah, maybe you're right, Teal'c."

"Is it against your military's regulations for Daniel Jackson and Major Carter to be more than friends?"

"No. Daniel's a civilian, so there wouldn't be any rules against it, even with them being on the same team. They could even be married. As long as it didn't affect the team dynamics, result in distractions, or cause any other kind of problem, there wouldn't be an issue."

"Would it bother you if such a thing were to occur?"

Jack was saved from answering by the return of the subjects of their conversation.

"Are we ready to go?" Daniel asked. "Sam and I are starving." He looked at Jack more closely. "Are you all right?"

"Uh, yeah, fine. I'm just fine. Let's get out of here."

They left the museum and went to a restaurant. As they waited for their food, Daniel and Sam chatted animatedly about what they'd seen. Jack remained quiet and watched them. Why hadn't he ever seen this before? Had he been blind all these years or was it just easier to see now? Daniel did seem to be more relaxed and happy than the colonel could ever remember seeing him, and Sam appeared to have caught his mood.

"Jaaaack. Earth to Colonel O'Neill. Come in, O'Neill."

Daniel's voice finally penetrated through to Jack's mind. "What?"

"Boy, were you off in La-La Land," Daniel said with a smile. "Do you plan on eating sometime today or are you saving the food for the dog you don't have?"

Startled, Jack looked down and realized that a plate had been placed in from of him. Flustered, he immediately began to eat.

"Are you sure you're okay, Colonel?" Sam asked in concern.

"Yep. I'm fine, Carter. My brain's just cooling off from being overheated by you two."

Daniel and Sam exchanged an amused look, then returned their attention to their meals.

With an effort, Jack got his mind off the subject of Daniel and Sam's relationship and made an effort to join in on the conversation.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly. On the drive back, Jack found his thoughts returning to the revelations of the day. About halfway home, he noticed that everything had gone quiet. He glanced into the back seat and saw that Sam had fallen asleep. Her head was resting on Daniel's shoulder. The archeologist was gazing at her, an expression of such love on his face that it almost took Jack's breath way. He quickly returned his attention to the road, not wanting his friend to know that he'd seen that look. The next time he glanced their way, Daniel was asleep as well, his head pillowed on Sam's hair.

The archeologist and astrophysicist woke up as they arrived in Colorado Springs. Jack drove everyone back to his house.

"So, how about if we order some pizzas and watch a video?" Jack asked. "I got plenty of beer."

Daniel and Sam smiled at the colonel's offer, knowing this was the older man's idea of the perfect evening, that is when it wasn't hockey season.

"Sure. Sounds good," Sam replied.

"But only if Sam and I get to choose the movie," Daniel added. "I don't think that either one of us can take another viewing of National Lampoon's Vacation."

"Hey, I've only played it twice," Jack objected.

"You have shown that movie three times, O'Neill," Teal'c informed him. "And each of its sequels more than once."

"Yeah, okay, so I like Chevy Chase."

Daniel and Sam hid their smiles. "Well, this time, we get to pick," Daniel insisted. "We'll go down to the video store while you wait for the pizzas."

"All right, fair enough. But don't come back with one of those mushy romantic comedies."

"Don't worry, Jack. We wouldn't do that to you. I think we both realize that, to you, it would be worse torture than what Ba'al put you through."

"You got that right," Jack shot back. "In fact, if he'd only known, he could have forgotten about the knives, acid and other stuff and just made me watch My Best Friend's Wedding half a dozen times in a row. I'd have caved right in."

Chuckling, Daniel and Sam headed off in the major's car to the video store. They perused the shelves, looking for something that they thought everyone would like. They were in the comedy section when Daniel's gaze fell upon one particular movie. A mischievous grin split his face.

"Hey, Sam. I found just the right one." He showed it to her. A huge smile lit her features.

"Perfect," she agreed.

Video in hand, they returned to Jack's place. The pizzas had arrived, and everyone dug in.

"So, what did you get?" Jack asked.

"A movie Sam and I thought that you and Teal'c would really appreciate," Daniel replied, keeping his face straight.

"Really? What's that?"

The archeologist handed the tape to Jack. "Oh, funny, Daniel. Really funny," he said as he stared at the copy of Groundhog Day.

Teal'c peered at the box cover. "What is the special significance of this movie?"

Daniel and Sam both grinned. "You'll find out," the major replied.

As it turned out, the Jaffa was quite intrigued by the tale of the man who was stuck reliving the same day over and over again, commenting several times about his and Jack's similar experience.

"Well, I need to get home," Sam said after the movie ended. "We've got an early start tomorrow."

"Could you drop me home too, Sam?" Daniel asked. "My car's still at the base."

"You can stay here again tonight, Daniel," Jack offered.

"I don't have another change of clothes here. Um . . . am I going with you on the mission tomorrow?"

"Well, of course you're going with us," the older man responded. "We need to talk to Hammond and get you transferred back to SG-1 first, though."

Daniel smiled and nodded.

"Want me to pick you up in the morning?"

"I can pick him up, sir," Sam said. "He's right on my way to work."

Thanking Jack for the enjoyable day, Daniel and Sam left. On the way to the linguist's house, they were mostly quiet, thinking about the events of the last two days.

As they pulled up to Daniel's place, he asked if Sam would like to come in for a few minutes, and she agreed.

"Would you like something to drink?" Daniel asked.

"No, I'm fine." Sam sat on the couch, and Daniel settled beside her. "This was a nice day."

"Yeah, it was. I honestly can't remember the last time I had that much fun. As much as I hate to admit it, Jack's right. We both really need to get out more."

"Yes, we do." Sam's tone changed. "Life is too short."

Daniel looked at her closely. "You okay, Sam?"

"Sure. I'm fine." Seeing that he didn't believe her, she gave a sigh. "I was just thinking about. . . ."

"About what happened yesterday."

"Yeah. You know, we had so much fun today that I almost forgot. . . ."

"That I died."

Sam nodded wordlessly.

"You want to talk about it?" Daniel asked gently.

Sam was tempted to say no, to just go home and push aside the pain that was still there inside her. But, this time, she decided that she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to hide these emotions from him.

"It _hurt_, Daniel," she said in a low voice. "It hurt so much. You died. You were gone. I was never going to see you again. When you ascended, it hurt more than I thought anything could, but yesterday was even worse because I knew that you were really gone."

She had begun to cry, and Daniel took her into his arms. "I know, Sam. I know," he whispered soothingly.

Sam clung to him, her tears wetting his shirt. Feeling his body next to hers, so warm, solid and alive, made her tears fall even harder since it reminded her of how close she came to losing this. She loved Daniel so much. He was such an important part of her life. To have gone on without him would have been sheer torture.

The emotional turmoil of the day was taking its toll, Sam feeling drained of energy. She knew that she should go home and get some sleep, but it felt good to be here like this, to just let Daniel hold her. She closed her eyes, thinking that she'd let it continue just a little while longer.

The minutes passed as Daniel held onto Sam in silence. After a while, she grew quiet. Shortly after that, he realized that she'd fallen asleep. He gazed at her, smiling softly. When he attempted to move out from under her, she made sounds of protest and held onto him more tightly. Staring at her for a long moment, Daniel made a decision. He shifted both of their positions so that he was lying on the couch with Sam tucked between him and the back of the sofa, her head pillowed on his chest. He removed his glasses and laid them on the coffee table. Then, wrapping his arms around Sam, Daniel closed his eyes and slipped into peaceful, dreamless sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sam awoke to a delightful feeling of warmth and comfort. Seconds after that, she realized that the surface she was partially lying on was alive. Cracking her eyelids open, she saw that her body pillow was Daniel. They were both sprawled out on the couch. Her head was on his chest, her left arm draped over his waist. As for her left leg, it was presently lying across his thighs in what most would say was a very provocative position. Oh, boy. Daniel's right hand was laying over her left one, curled gently about it. His left arm was wrapped firmly around her waist, firmly enough that Sam knew there was no way she was going to get off this couch without waking him up. But did she even want to get up?

Sam remembered the events of last night. She had all but cried herself to sleep in Daniel's arms. It was rather embarrassing to think about it even though Daniel was one of the only people in her life to whom she felt comfortable revealing her deeper emotions. He had seen her tears many times before and always seemed to know exactly how much comfort to offer. She never felt ashamed or uncomfortable letting him see her softer side. He was a wonderful listener, his gentle compassion making you feel like you were the most important person in the world to him. For those reasons, he had become her confidant on many occasions. Yet she had seldom completely lost control in his presence, preferring to do her real crying in private.

Sam knew that he would never mention what happened last night unless she brought it up. He would let her gather up her pride and self-control and pretend like it didn't happen. She wasn't so sure she wanted to do that. She had well and truly lost him this time. He hadn't ascended. He was really dead this time. For twenty of the most awful minutes of her entire life she had felt the yawning chasm that his loss had opened up in her. Though he had been given back to her yet again, Sam knew that, at any time, he could be killed, this time for good. That knowledge made her realize that she needed to hold onto every moment with him, cherish each day in his presence. And she needed to make sure he knew how much he meant to her, as a teammate and as a friend. But what about those other feelings, the ones she seldom let herself think about?

"You know, I'd forgotten how nice it is to wake up with a beautiful woman in my arms," said a soft, gently teasing voice.

Sam smiled and raised her head to look into Daniel's sparkling eyes. He gave her a warm smile.

"Hey there," he murmured.

"Hey yourself."

Daniel's gaze grew more searching. "So, how are you feeling this morning?"

"I feel good. Sorry about last night."

"Sorry? What on Earth for?"

"Well, for breaking down and crying all over you. Then you ended up sleeping on this uncomfortable couch instead of in bed like you should have been."

Daniel's expression became completely serious. "First off, you have no reason to be sorry about what happened last night. I'm glad that you felt as if you could let your emotions out like that with me. And I think you know me well enough to know that I don't get uncomfortable or embarrassed when women cry in my presence."

"Yes, I do know that, and it's another way in which you are not like a lot of other men."

The corners of Daniel's mouth lifted. "Is that another 'I'm so happy you're not a typical guy' compliment?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure." Daniel became serious again. "Secondly, how could I possibly be uncomfortable where I am right now?"

More than a little surprised by his words, Sam stared at him, trying to decipher what she was seeing in his eyes. All at once, things were getting way too serious, and Sam felt herself starting to panic. To hide it, she chose to lighten things up.

"You're not uncomfortable at all? I find that hard to believe given your height and the length of this couch."

He quirked a smile. "Well, okay, so I admit that I do have a crick in my neck, but please don't tell Janet. She'll throw me back in the infirmary and insist on doing a spinal tap or something."

Sam laughed. "You know, you may be right about that. She's probably going to watch you like a hawk for the next few days." Sam looked at her watch. "Oh my! I need to get going! I have to go home and get showered and changed."

They got up from the couch. Sam found her purse and headed for the door. "I'll be back in an hour to pick you up, okay?"

"Okay. See you then."

Sam paused. "Thank you, Daniel. I'm glad that I have a friend like you, one who always has a shoulder ready for me to cry on."

Daniel smiled softly. "I will always be happy to lend you a shoulder whenever you need it, Sam."

He watched her leave, then headed to the bathroom. As he showered then got dressed, he thought about what had just happened, about the comment he'd made regarding not being uncomfortable lying on the couch with her. He hadn't intended on saying that to Sam, well, not like he had. He'd planned on saying it lightheartedly, like a joke, but it sure hadn't come out that way. The truth was that it had felt really good waking up with Sam in his arms, too good, so good that he'd very happily wake up that way every morning for the rest of his life. And that thought scared him. He hadn't intended for this to happen, to develop those kinds of feelings for her.

Daniel didn't know when his feelings for Sam had started to change, when he began to feel more than friendship toward her. He'd thought of her as a friend almost from the start, and that feeling of friendship had strengthened very quickly By the time that whole incident with the crystal entities on P3X-562 began, it had developed into a rock solid relationship of mutual trust, respect and deep affection. More notable than that was their ability to work together with such unity. He smiled at the thought of how they had been like two kids on an adventure of discovery while trying to solve the mystery of the crystalline forms they'd found.

A few months later, when he was taken captive by Nem, Daniel knew that he loved Sam as a friend. The thought of never seeing her and the rest of his friends again had hurt terribly. A few months after that, he came to realize that Sam had become a vastly important part of his life when she and Jack disappeared during the team's return through the Stargate, having accidentally been transported through the gate located in Antarctica. His fear and anguish over their possible fate had driven him to work ceaselessly, refusing to give up until they were found.

He and Sam were like kindred souls, two passionate scientists working in a military world. They understood each other so well, their bond enabling them to often work side by side in complete harmony. Oh, they didn't always see eye-to-eye. Their opinions on how things should be done had differed on occasion. But, with the exception of the incident with the Eurondans, it had never gone beyond a mild disagreement. More often than not, they were like two pieces of a puzzle, fitting together to make a single image.

So when did his feelings of friendship toward Sam become something more? There had been brief moments throughout their relationship when he'd experienced emotions that shouldn't have been there just for a friend. When Sam had donned that blue gown on the planet Simarka, he couldn't stop staring at her. Until then, it hadn't really registered on him how beautiful she was. But, back then, Sha're was the only woman he had any desire to be with as a man. He had dismissed his reaction to Sam as nothing more than surprise and appreciation for her beauty and never gave it another thought. But, thinking about it years later, he couldn't deny that seeing Sam like that had affected him in a big way. Then there had been what he felt when he saw her and Martouf holding hands. At the time, he reasoned that what he'd felt was brotherly concern for Sam's welfare. He wasn't so sure of that now.

Throughout the time that he was searching for Sha're, his feelings were clear. He was in love with her and wanted her back. But then, she died. For a long time afterwards, the grief of her death filled him, and, except for that huge mistake with Ke'ra, he'd had no desire to move on with his life and be with another woman.

But time gradually healed the wound in his heart, and he became aware of feelings for Sam that he shouldn't have. Those feelings became all too apparent to him when he began to suspect that there was something between her and Jack. A rumor had started circulating through the SGC that they were "an item". He didn't know how the rumor got started, but he saw the effect it had on his two friends when they first became aware of it. They had shared this look between them, their eyes meeting with an intense, knowing expression. When Daniel saw that look pass between them, it had actually hurt. Daniel hadn't wanted to think about what that look could mean. He didn't think that the rumors were true. Neither Jack nor Sam would defy regulations like that. But that didn't mean that the feelings and desires weren't there. Daniel had been forced to examine his own feelings about that possibility and was shocked to realize that he was jealous. How could he be jealous? Sam was just his friend . . . right? That had been the beginning of his reevaluation of his feelings toward Sam. He began watching her and Jack more closely. Most of the time, there was nothing to indicate anything more than what he'd seen before, but, every once in a while, Daniel caught Jack looking at Sam with a sad, almost wistful expression. It was nothing overt, and the expression always disappeared quickly, but it was there, and Daniel saw it.

Then the incident with the entity infecting the SGC's mainframe happened. When that thing took control of Sam, Daniel had felt helpless. He was hurting and desperately hoping that, somehow, they'd be able to get it out of her. And then he'd seen how Jack was reacting. There was no doubt that the man was suffering emotionally.

Then things got a whole lot worse. Jack was forced to shoot Sam twice with a zat gun. She was dead, brain dead, no brainwave activity at all. God, that had hurt. Daniel couldn't bear to see Sam like that, to see her body being kept alive with machines, her beautiful, brilliant mind gone. He shut himself up in his office for a long time, trying to keep control of his emotions, fighting back the tears as he had when Sha're died. When he finally felt in control of himself, Daniel got up the courage to go see her. He found Jack by her bedside and realized that, as much as he was hurting, Jack must have been hurting even more because he had been the one to pull the trigger.

When those words "I am here" began racing across the computer monitor screen in the MALP room, Daniel's mind and heart had leapt at what it could mean. He clung to the hope that it was Sam, that the entity had transferred her consciousness into the mainframe. There could be no other answer. It had to be Sam, it just _had_ to be. And it was. Words could not express his relief when Sam woke up and spoke to them. She was going to be all right. It was after that that Daniel made the conscious decision to ignore the feelings he had for Sam, for he had finally realized the true depth of those feelings.

They say that practice makes perfect, and it proved to be so. For over a year, he repressed his feelings for Sam. He managed to work side-by-side with her each day without thinking about it, at least most of the time.

After Kelowna, when he knew that he was going to die, he had thought about telling Sam the truth. A memory had come to him of when she was grieving over Lantash's death, and he talked to her about the fact that we so often wait until it's too late to tell people how we feel. He had told her then that he loved her, but had kept the full truth of his emotions to himself, the truth that he was _in_ love with her, mind, body and soul.

As he lay in the infirmary, the pain getting progressively worse, he had known that it was his last chance to tell her everything. But he didn't take the opportunity. He hesitated. And then, it was too late. By the time Sam came to him again, he was beyond the point where he could speak, lost in the strange, dreamlike world Oma Desala brought him to, where he could hear and see those who came to him but could not communicate with them. He heard Sam talk to him, heard the deep anguish in her voice, and he had ached to hold her, even as her words tore him apart.

Hearing Sam, knowing that, regardless of whether or not he ascended, he'd never be with her again brought back the memory and pain of losing Sha're. Once again, he was losing a woman he loved. Those thoughts succeeded in heightening his feelings of guilt, defeat and worthlessness. He realized that, throughout his entire life, every chance he'd ever had for lasting happiness had either been taken away from him or lost through his own actions. When he chose to go with Oma, he did so because he thought that leaving his mortal body behind would give him the ability to do things right and the chance to find a lasting sense of purpose and contentment that he had been denied all his life. But, as always, things didn't work out that way.

A year later, he descended and was left with no memory of his previous life. The thing was that, along with forgetting his history, he also forgot something else – that the feelings he had for Sam were supposed to be ignored.

When Daniel first saw her, there had been no recognition at all, not for Sam or anyone else. But when Sam came into his tent and started telling him about himself, using such glowing words of praise, Daniel felt something, a spark igniting way down deep inside him. He had looked at her and felt a stirring in his heart. Not knowing any better, he asked her that question, and, though she denied that there was anything between them except a close friendship, something was telling him that there was more, at least as far as he was concerned.

Later, though, Daniel remembered Sha're and the love he'd had for her. Upset and confused, he didn't know what to think. It wasn't until he started recalling his memories of Sam that things got clearer.

Since then, Daniel had been trying to get back to the way it was before his ascension, when he could ignore these feelings he had for Sam. The trouble was that it was a whole lot harder now, and, after what happened day before yesterday, he was beginning to wonder if he should even try. Yet, judging by Sam's reaction to what he said this morning, she was either not ready or not interested in anything more than friendship with him.

So, what should he do? Should he just keep playing it the way he had been or should he take the chance and let Sam know how he felt? He'd be taking a really big chance if he told her the truth. It could screw up their friendship and their ability to work as teammates. He had to protect that relationship at all costs. It was far too important to lose.

Choosing not to think about it anymore for now, Daniel left his bedroom and started preparing breakfast.

* * *

Sam threw her keys and purse onto the table beside the door and headed for the bathroom. As she showered and got ready for work, she kicked herself for her cowardice. Daniel had given her an opening, an opportunity to see if their relationship could be taken in a new direction, and she had panicked.

"Pathetic, Sam," she muttered to herself. "You face down armies of Goa'uld without breaking a sweat, yet, when faced with the possibility that Daniel might feel something more than friendship for you, you run like a rabbit."

So why had it scared her so much? Because, for the last six and a half years, every chance she'd had at romance had ended with the man she cared about dying. She had never believed in curses or anything like that, but, quite some time ago, she had begun to believe that she was doomed to lose every man she cared about in a romantic way. Martouf, Narim, Joe Faxon, even Orlin. The loss of every one of them had hurt to some extent. But the pain of their losses had been nothing, _nothing_ compared to when she lost Daniel.

Sam had no idea when her feelings for the archeologist began to change, but she knew exactly when she became aware of that change. She had been terribly worried when Daniel chose to go to that Goa'uld summit to act as an assassin. Sweet, gentle, compassionate Daniel, an assassin. Granted, the people he was supposed to kill were Goa'uld, but it still seemed so wrong to put him in that position, and it terrified her to know that things could go wrong so very easily.

What followed was a nightmare. The Tok'ra base was destroyed, all of the Tok'ra there killed. Lantash, the Tok'ra who had been blended with Martouf, went into a critically injured Lieutenant Elliott and later revealed something that stunned her. He loved her, and not because she had carried Jolinar. He loved _her_, Samantha Carter. His words to her reawakened her grief over Martouf's death.

In the end, they were forced to leave the dying Lantash and Lieutenant Elliott behind to act as a kind of Trojan Horse to kill all the Jaffa near the Stargate so that SG-1 and Jacob could escape. The young lieutenant's final words tore her heart open.

"He's happy now," he had said. "He just wanted you to know."

After it was all over and they were back home, safe and sound, Sam had felt the grief well up in her. She shut herself up in her lab, wanting to mourn alone. But then, Daniel came. Sitting beside her on the floor, he was silent for a long moment.

"Do you know why he was happy, Sam?" he finally asked. "He died knowing that he was saving you, that you would live on and remember him and, more than that, that you knew he loved you. So many times, death takes us or the ones we love before we tell them how we feel. We don't speak the words, thinking that there will always be another chance. But then, our chances run out, and we live, or die, with the regret that the words were never spoken. Lantash got that chance, and it made all the difference in the world to him. He could die in peace." He touched her cheek. Sam turned to him and met his eyes.

"You are one of my best friends in the world, Sam, and I love you," Daniel murmured. He smiled gently. "And it makes me happy that I didn't wait until it was too late to tell you that."

That was when Sam's tears had come. Daniel had pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried.

It was hours later, in the privacy of her home, when Sam started to think about Daniel and what he meant to her. As she lay in bed, in the darkness of her room, she began to realize that there was more to what she was feeling than friendship. And she had been terrified, an unreasoning fear filling her that Daniel would meet the same fate as the others. She never told him how she felt, hiding the emotions deep within, not even telling him that she loved him as a friend.

And, then, she did lose him. Too late, she realized that Daniel had been right, that one of the greatest regrets we can have is not telling the people we love how we truly feel. As he lay dying, she tried to tell him, to let him know how much he meant to her, but she hadn't known if he heard her, if it really was too late.

"I don't know why we wait to tell people how we really feel," she had said. "I guess I hoped that you always knew." Though she wanted to, in the end, she couldn't speak the final words, couldn't say, "I love you."

Then, a year later, he was back, alive, healthy and human once again. His question to her in his tent threw her for a loop. She had not expected it. She told him the truth when she said that there was nothing between them. There wasn't, not openly. She had never acknowledged her feelings for him, and she had no idea if he felt anything toward her except friendship. They really were just very good friends, even though her heart wanted so much more.

So, here she was now, having just been given the chance to tell him, and she had chickened out. Was she ever going to find the courage to speak those words? She'd already lost him twice, and, twice, he'd been given back to her. Someday, she could lose him permanently. What was it going to take for her to get past her fear and let him see the truth?

Deciding that she couldn't think about it any more today, Sam finished getting ready for work, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and headed off to pick Daniel up.

* * *

Jack and Daniel entered Hammond's office.

"Did you and the rest of SG-1 enjoy your day off?" the general asked.

"Yes, we did, sir," the colonel answered, "even if Daniel and Carter did give me a headache with all their talking."

Daniel shot Jack a look, then turned back to Hammond. "Um, sir, before I change my mind, I'd like to request that I be put back on SG-1. It was a mistake for me to leave the team."

Hiding his smile, Hammond looked at the archeologist. "I'm afraid that I can't transfer you back to SG-1, Doctor Jackson."

"What?" Jack squawked in protest. "But, sir, Daniel belongs with us. Everything's been straightened out, and I swear that nothing like that will ever happen again."

The general let some of his smile show through. "I think you mean that, Colonel, and I'm glad to hear it. But what I was going to say is that I never officially transferred Doctor Jackson off your team. I held off on filing the paperwork, hoping that there would be no need to file it."

Both of the men in his office smiled. "Great!" Jack exclaimed.

"Thank you, sir," Daniel said.

Hammond looked at the archeologist. "According to Doctor Fraiser's report, she detected some kind of anomaly in your bloodwork."

"Yes, sir. She took some more blood this morning and is going to run the tests again."

"You're sure that you feel all right."

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Very well, then. But at the first hint of trouble, I want you to report to the infirmary."

"Yes, sir."

Hammond nodded. "Now, don't the two of you have a mission to prepare for?"

Jack smiled. "Yes, sir!"

The mission to P5C-801 was completely routine. As Jack said at the debriefing, "We went, we saw, we came back. We'll be picking up the pictures from Photo Mart tomorrow." Not that they were sorry it had been such an uneventful mission. After what they'd all been through, a nice, quiet mission was just fine.

Daniel paid only partial attention to what was said in the debriefing. All of his teammates noticed that he was distracted. After they left the briefing room, Jack confronted him on it.

"What's up, Daniel?"

"Huh?" He looked at the others. "Oh. Sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted."

"Yeah, a little. What about?"

Daniel looked at his teammates. "I want to go back to P7Y-359." The others stared at him.

"You're joking, right?" Jack responded.

"No, I'm serious."

"Daniel, after what happened to you there, why would you want to go back?" Sam asked.

The archeologist looked at all of them. "From what you told me, those people are living in constant fear of Bendrak, being forced to take the . . . the life power from two hundred of their own people every year to feed that thing. You can't tell me that you don't want to do anything to change that."

"No, of course we do," Sam assured him. "We just don't know what we can do. Depending on the size of the population, it could take months or even years to transport all the inhabitants to another planet. During all that time, there would be the constant threat that Bendrak would attack. He could wipe out hundreds, perhaps even thousands."

"Then we have to figure out how to get rid of Bendrak."

"Well, that would be great, Daniel, but I don't have any idea how to do that," Jack said.

"We really don't know what this Bendrak is," Sam pointed out. "It doesn't seem to possess a physical form."

"So, it's incorporeal, like the Ancients."

"Or it could be gaseous in nature, able to make itself visible or invisible. You said that you felt something touch you, so that seems to indicate it can solidify itself to a certain extent."

"There has to be a way to kill it. Nothing can be completely immortal." Daniel was silent for a moment. "The situation with Bendrak and the natives is only part of the reason why I have to go back there. I need to know why I'm not dead. The natives of P7Y-359 said that everyone Bendrak attacks die quickly, so why didn't I?"

"Well, it is possible that Bendrak didn't do the same thing to you that he does to the planet's inhabitants," Sam reasoned. "Maybe he deliberately wanted you to . . . to suffer as punishment for going into the temple without tribute."

"Yeah, I guess that might be so, but it still doesn't answer the question. Why am I not dead? My body shut down. I died, was dead for twenty minutes, yet here I am. Something or _someone_ brought me back to life. How and why?"

"We don't know, and, quite frankly, it's a heck of a lot more important to us that you _are_ alive than how it's possible," Jack told him.

"Yes, but, until I know how and why, there will always be that unanswered question in my mind. I already have too many of those regarding what happened while I was ascended, why I was made mortal again instead of being exiled to an empty planet like Orlin was, and why my memories were wiped from my mind but not permanently. I'm tired of these things happening to me and not knowing why."

"Daniel, I can understand how you feel," Sam said. "I can imagine how frustrating it must be. But I think that what we're all worried about is that, if you go back to that planet, Bendrak will go after you again."

"You got that right," Jack confirmed. "He probably thinks you're dead and might get a little ticked off if he finds out that you're not. I don't want to give him the chance to take a second crack at you."

"Then I just need to stay away from the temple," Daniel stated.

"That may not be enough to assure your safety, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c pointed out. "It is clear that Bendrak has the ability to leave the temple since he has attacked the village in the past."

"Yes, but unless he's somehow able to sense my particular presence, why would he bother? He must not be keeping an eye on the Stargate. Otherwise, he'd have known that Gennae went through and would probably have attacked you and Jack."

"We don't know what his motivations are, Daniel," Sam reasoned. "He might have had a reason for not attacking Teal'c and the colonel."

"Well, we can stand here all day and talk till we're blue in the face, but it isn't going to change the fact that I am not letting you go back to that planet," Jack said with finality.

Daniel stared at the colonel and sighed. "All right, I'll accept that . . . for now. But there's something else I want."

"Oh, do tell."

"I want to find out if the natives have any written accounts of their history, specifically about Bendrak. Maybe I can glean from it enough information to figure out what Bendrak actually is and how to get rid of him."

"What if you can't read their language?" Jack asked.

"Well, obviously, that is a possibility, but the natives should be able to help with that. All they'd have to do is give me some lessons. Of course, for them to be able to do that, either I'd have to go there or one of them would have to come here."

"And having one of them come here would put the others at risk," Sam said.

"Yeah."

"Did Gennae not say that, after the Time of Tribute, Bendrak would sleep for one month and it would then be safe for one of them to go through the Stargate?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel's face lit with interest. "He said that?"

"Yes, he did," Sam confirmed.

"So, there shouldn't be any problem, then. After the Time of Tribute's over with, someone can go through and talk to the natives, see if any of them would be willing to come here and teach me their written language, if it's necessary."

Jack smiled and clapped him on the back. "I'll go there and extend the invitation myself, Daniel." 


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The days passed more or less uneventfully. SG-1 went on several more missions, but they all turned out to be mostly routine, no Goa'uld, no angry natives, no nasty surprises.

Finally, the Time of Tribute on P7Y-359 was over. The following day, SG-1, minus Daniel, went through the gate and headed to the village. Gennae greeted them with a smile.

"Welcome, friends. We are pleased that you have come to visit us."

"Hi, Gennae," Sam said warmly. "First of all, we wanted to tell you that Daniel is fine. He recovered fully from what Bendrak did to him."

The chieftain's face lit with a wide smile. "That is wonderful news! Did the things your doctor learn from me help him?"

"Um, well . . . actually, no. We don't know why Daniel recovered. It happened very suddenly."

"Perhaps my prayers to Dengai were answered, and he healed your Insharra."

"Dengai?" Jack asked.

"One of their gods, sir," Sam answered.

"Ah."

"Gennae, we're here for a specific reason," Sam said. "Daniel would like to learn the history of your people, especially about Bendrak. He was hoping that you might have written accounts that he could borrow. But he might also need one of your people to teach him your written language if he can't read it. We don't want him to come here because we're concerned about the danger to him that Bendrak might pose. So, if there was a way that someone could come with us back to Earth and be his teacher, it would be appreciated."

"It would be our privilege to teach your Insharra of our people, but we have no written account of our history."

"You don't record your history in written form?"

"No. Our Insharras are the keepers of our history. They teach us all that we need to know."

"Um, okay, so would your Insharra be willing to come back with us?" Jack asked.

Gennae shook his head. "Our Insharra cannot leave the people. She has not yet completed the passing of her knowledge onto another. If something was to happen to her, some of what she knows would be lost. Cannot Daniel come here?"

"Like Major Carter said, we don't want to take the risk that Bendrak will attack him again," Jack explained.

"But there would be no danger of that now. Bendrak sleeps. He will do so for a moon." Gennae looked at all of them, seeing their expressions. "I swear this to you. There would be no danger from Bendrak."

"Well, we'll think about it and let you know what we decide. We'll come back in a day or two."

"Will you not stay with us a while?" Gennae asked. "I have told my people of the wonders of your world. They would enjoy learning more."

"Um, could you excuse us for a moment, Gennae?" Sam asked. Upon receiving a nod from the old man, Sam motioned to Jack and Teal'c. They all walked away a few yards. "So, are you going to let Daniel come, sir?"

"I don't know yet."

"Sir, you heard Gennae. He swears that there would be no danger to Daniel right now. You know that the minute Daniel finds out, he's going to insist on coming here, especially since we can't bring him what he wants."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I know. And I also know that he probably won't let up until I agree. He can be damn stubborn about things."

"So, you'll let him come?"

"Yeah, okay. He can come."

Sam smiled and walked back over to Gennae. "We're going to let Daniel come, Gennae. He can teach you more about our people and cultures, and he can bring books and pictures to show you."

The chieftain smiled delightedly. "I thank you. My people will be most pleased."

"We'll come back tomorrow. That'll be okay, right?" Jack asked.

"Yes! Yes, that will be good. We will make preparations for your visit."

SG-1 returned to the SGC.

"Well, you're going to get your wish, Daniel," Jack informed the archeologist at the debriefing.

"One of the natives is coming here?"

"Nope, you're going there."

"The natives assured us that, while Bendrak is sleeping, you won't be in any danger," Sam explained.

Daniel smiled. "Really? That's great."

"There is one problem, though," Sam told him. "It seems that they have no written history. Their Insharras teach them everything."

Daniel nodded. "That's actually quite common with more primitive cultures. The Australian Aborigines, many African tribes, native people throughout the Americas, all over the world, in fact, passed on their history orally, often through stories and songs. I guess I'll just have to have a conversation with their Insharra."

Jack turned to Hammond. "We told Gennae that we'd be back tomorrow. I assume that's all right."

"Yes, that'll be fine, Colonel."

Daniel spent the remainder of the day gathering what he thought he'd need for the mission. It was five o'clock when Sam came into his office. She looked at the pile of books that sat on the desk.

"Are you taking all those with you?" she asked with a smile.

"Um, no, not all of them. Jack would throw a fit if I did."

"So, are you planning on working the whole night?"

"Hmm. Well, that all depends on whether or not someone makes me a better offer."

Sam saw the twinkle in Daniel's eyes. "Ah, a better offer, eh? Well, I think that Lieutenant Parker is on duty tonight, so you're probably out of luck."

The linguist's faked a disappointed expression. "Too bad."

"However, it's possible that I might be free. I know it's not quite the same, but. . . ."

A smiled spread across Daniel's face. "I think you'll do, Sam."

They managed to get off the base without Jack seeing them and inviting himself along. Each of them driving their own car, they met at the restaurant they'd chosen.

"This is nice," Daniel said as they waited for their food. "It's been a really long time since just the two of us went out to eat."

"Yes, it has, too long. I'm really sorry about that, Daniel. Before you left, I guess I just got all caught up in work. Since your return, we've all been pretty busy, and—"

"Sam, you have nothing to apologize for," Daniel told her quickly.

"I think I do, Daniel. I feel like I've been neglecting our friendship."

"Well, if you have, then I'm guilty of the same crime. A friendship takes two people, Sam. It would have been easy for me to ask you out for a meal on occasion or find out if you'd like to go see a movie. We both got caught up in work. With work like ours, it's really easy to do. We get so focused on the job that we forget that we're supposed to do other things."

Sam smiled. "You know, that's something both of us can really understand. Colonel O'Neill's not like that. He could never figure out how I could think it was fun to spend my free time in the lab, working on some piece of technology."

Daniel laughed. "Same here. Did I ever tell you about the time that he and Teal'c dragged me, kicking and screaming, from a new book I'd gotten on Macedonia to see women wrestle in an arena full of Jello?"

Sam burst into laughter. "You're kidding!"

"Oh, I wish I was. God, was that embarrassing. I mean, Jello? It would have been bad enough if it was mud wrestling."

Sam giggled. "Poor Daniel."

"I got even with them, though."

"Oh? What did you do?"

"I tricked them into letting me choose the next movie we went to. I picked a French film noir. Teal'c did all right, but, by the time the movie was over, Jack was squirming so much you'd have thought he was having an epileptic seizure."

Sam laughed again.

"For some strange reason, Jack never took me to another wrestling match, with or without Jello."

"I wonder why."

Their meals arrived, and they focused on eating for a while. Throughout the meal, Sam kept glancing at Daniel when he wasn't looking. She rarely allowed herself the luxury of really looking at him. He was a very handsome man. It was a gentle handsomeness, the kind of face that made you want to trust him. The full lips, that sweet, almost shy smile, those incredibly beautiful, brilliant blue eyes that would melt your heart, if you let them. And then there was his body. Oh, boy. Daniel had filled out a lot in the years that he had been with the program, gaining muscle mass and definition. He had most definitely reached the status of hunk, and most of the women on the base were well aware of it. Yet Daniel seemed to be oblivious to his attractiveness, which, in Sam's opinion, made him even more attractive. Sam couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to feel Daniel's body—

_'Whoops! Don't go there, Sam. That's dangerous territory, especially with the man of your desires sitting right across from you.'_ With an effort, Sam returned her attention to her food.

"You okay, Sam?" Daniel asked quietly a few moments later.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her food.

"You've been pretty quiet the last few minutes."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm all right, Daniel. Just thinking."

"Ah. That seems to be something we both do a lot of. According to Jack, too much of that is hazardous to your health."

Sam smiled. "You do know that's an act, right?" She was well aware that their C.O. was a lot smarter than he pretended to be.

"Yes, I know, but his act does leave him wide open for teasing."

Sam's smile broadened. "Sometimes, you guys are so alike, though the similarities in your sense of humor isn't something I saw in the beginning. I'm afraid that the colonel rubbed off on you, Daniel."

"No, not really. I developed my sarcasm a long time ago. I was picked on a lot as a kid. I wasn't any good at fighting and really didn't want to anyway, so I learned to fight back with words." Dnaiel smiled. "Of course, it helped that I could say all kinds of cutting things to my tormentors in languages they had no hope of understanding."

Sam chuckled. "You didn't do it in the beginning, though."

"No, not much, just once in a while. But things changed. Life got . . . harder, and the old instincts came back." He looked at his plate. "I think part of it was the way that things changed between me and Jack."

"Daniel, you do know that Colonel O'Neill cares about you, don't you?"

Daniel nodded, meeting her eyes. "Yeah, I know, Sam. We talked in the infirmary when I was . . ." his voice lowered, "when I was dying. We're okay now. I think we're more okay than we've been in a very long time."

"That's really good to hear, Daniel."

They finished their meal and paid the check. Daniel walked Sam to her car.

"Thanks, Sam. This was really nice." He smiled. "You make a great substitute for that girlfriend I don't have."

"Well, I was happy to fill in, Daniel. Any time you'd like me to do it again, let me know."

"I'll do that."

Daniel gazed at Sam for a long moment. He was hit with the sudden desire to kiss her, but curbed it. "Good night. See you in the morning."

"Good night."

Sam got in her car, and Daniel watched as she drove away. Then he made his way to his own car and headed for home, wondering if, someday, he and Sam wouldn't have to say goodbye for the night.

* * *

As they stepped out of the wormhole onto P7Y-359, Daniel felt himself tense up. He was half-expecting to see an evil black shadow come flying out of the trees to consume him.

"Daniel, are you all right?" Sam asked in concern.

Realizing that he had been standing there frozen like a statue for several seconds, he forced himself to relax. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

"Do you feel anything? I mean, can you feel Benny?" Jack asked worriedly.

"It's Bendrak, Jack, and, no, I don't feel him. But then, I didn't feel him the last time until we'd been walking toward the temple for several minutes."

"Well, regardless of whether or not Benny's taking a power snooze, we're keeping you as far away from that place as we can."

They headed for the village. As they came within sight of it, several voices called out. A moment later, Gennae came forward, all smiles.

"Welcome! Welcome!" He looked at Daniel. "Ah! Insharra Daniel! It is so good to see that you are well. Many blessing upon you."

"Thank you, Gennae."

"Come, all of you. My people are eager to see you."

As they entered the village this time, the people did not run and hide. Instead, they smiled at the visitors. Little children ran up to them, touching their clothing and the things they carried. Several adults came up and greeted them. Daniel in particular was of immense curiosity to the villagers. Apparently, they all knew that he had been attacked by Bendrak and were filled with wonder by his recovery.

Gennae took them to what appeared to be the largest structure in the village and led them inside. A low table filled with various fruits and breads sat in the middle of the room, cushions on the floor around it. Mats that were obviously meant to be beds were along the walls.

"This is one of the huts that is used when we have visitors from other villages. It is yours for as long as you wish to remain." Gennae looked at Sam. "It is not our custom for women to sleep in the same hut as men who are not family, but, since you travel with these men. . . ."

Sam smiled. "It's fine, Gennae. It's common for all of us to sleep in the same place."

Gennae smiled in relief. "Good. I did not wish to bring offense." He looked at the others. "I will let you get settled." He bowed his head and exited the hut.

"That's interesting," Daniel said. "Many primitive societies are very intolerant of differences in cultural practices. There have been many cases when some unwitting explorer or missionary got themselves killed because they did something that was forbidden by the native people they were in the company of. Yet Gennae had no trouble at all accepting that our ways are different from theirs."

"Well, that has to be a good thing," Jack said.

"Oh, yes, it definitely is. At least we won't have to worry so much about getting into trouble."

They removed their packs and gear. Daniel insisted that there was no need for their weapons, but, as usual, Jack refused to part with his P-90. Teal'c also held onto his staff weapon. They left the hut and went in search of Gennae. Daniel had with him a couple of the books he'd brought. They found the chieftain quickly.

"Gennae, I brought some things for you to look at. These are books. These particular books have a written account of our history in architecture, that's the construction of buildings. Sam said that you have a lot of interest in that."

The man's eyes lit up. "Yes. She showed me pictures of wonderful buildings that your people have made."

"Well, you are welcome to look at these books I brought. You won't be able to read them, but they have lots of pictures." Daniel opened one of the books and flipped through it. Gennae's gaze devoured what was on the pages. Smiling, Daniel handed the books to him.

"Thank you, Insharra Daniel! I am honored that you would share these with me."

"You're welcome. But please, just call me Daniel."

Gennae inclined his head. "Daniel. I will take great care with your books. May I show them to others?"

"Sure. I've got several more as well, books about our planet with pictures of places around the world, books about the different peoples of our world, showing the diversity of our races. You're welcome to pass them out among your people so that everyone can see them."

"Thank you again, Daniel. You are most generous."

"I'd like to ask some questions about your people and your culture. When would be a good time for that?"

"Now would be good."

"Well, since it looks like you two are going to be busy for a while, the rest of us will check this place out," Jack said.

Daniel spent the next hour talking with Gennae, finding out about his people, whom Daniel learned were called the Dicharin or, simply, "the people". When Daniel began asking questions that the chieftain couldn't answer, the old man told him that he needed to speak with their Insharra.

"When would I be able to do that?" the archeologist asked.

"Any time. She is most eager to speak with you."

Daniel smiled. "Great. How about now?"

Daniel followed the chieftain, hoping that the Insharra would be able to answer his questions about Bendrak and help them figure out a way to kill it. 


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Gennae took Daniel to a hut that looked no different from any of the others except that beside the doorway was hung something that reminded him a little bit of a dreamcatcher. The chieftain pulled back the flap covering the entrance and motioned for Daniel to go inside. A lone woman, who appeared to be in her early to mid sixties, was sitting on some cushions.

"Ayarla, this is Daniel, the Insharra of the people who came through the gate," the chieftain said to the woman.

"Hello. It's an honor to meet you," Daniel said.

The woman's eyes met his. "But you are hardly more than a boy. How could you be an Insharra? Surely you are still only learning."

Daniel smiled. "I'm older than I look, Ayarla. But, yes, I am still learning. No Insharra of my planet can know all there is of our people and history. It's too much to learn. There are billions of people on our world, with many, many different cultures. We have many thousands of years of history, a great deal of which has been lost throughout time. I have studied languages, culture and history since I was a young child, but there is far more that I don't know than what I do. Even if I were to live a thousand years, I would not be able to learn it all."

Ayarla nodded. "Sit, please."

Daniel settled on one of the cushions as Gennae excused himself.

"If it is not possible for your Insharras to learn everything, then how do you preserve your history?" the woman asked.

"We record our history in written form, in what we call books. Anyone who wishes to learn may read the books and be taught by them. However, there have been many cultures on Earth that teach as you do, orally."

Ayarla gazed at him. "So, what is it that you wish to learn from me?"

"I want to know about your people, a little about your history. Mostly, though, I want to know about Bendrak, what he is, when he came here."

"There is not much knowledge about Bendrak."

"Would you be willing to tell me what you know?"

Ayarla nodded. "I am an Insharra. It is my purpose to teach."

"Thank you."

"Before I tell you of Bendrak, I must tell you how my people came to be here. Long ago, our people lived in another place, another world. We do not know if the stories are true, but it is said that that world was not our original home, that the home of our distant ancestors was elsewhere and that we were taken from it by evil beings."

"Your people are human, the same race as us," Daniel told her. "We have proof that the human race began on Earth, on my planet. Thousands of years ago, a race called the Goa'uld came to Earth and stole people from many different cultures to act as slaves for them. There's a very good chance that your distant ancestors came from my planet."

"Then you are our people, too," Ayarla stated.

"Yes, in a way. We share the same origins."

Ayarla nodded, accepting the statement without questions. "As I said, our people lived on another world. A day came, though, when a great sickness swept the land. Our people were dying, and all seemed to be lost. When there was no hope left, Dengai came."

"Dengai. Gennae said that he's your god of deliverance."

"Yes. Dengai saved us. He awakened the enkali and brought the people through it to here."

"Wait a minute. It was Dengai who activated the Stargate, the enkali?"

"Yes, this is so. Before Dengai came, the enkali could not be used. It was dead."

Daniel had a sudden thought. "Ayarla, do you know what Dengai looked like?"

"It is said that, most of the time, he was spirit, but that there were times when he appeared as a being of light that flew through the air like a bird, and that, sometimes, he took on the form of our people."

"An Ancient," Daniel murmured.

"Ancient?"

"Yes. I believe that Dengai was of a race of beings called the Ancients. Or, at the very least, he was ascended." Getting excited, Daniel asked her to continue.

"Dengai brought those who had survived to this world. But they had lost everything. Most of their knowledge and skills were left behind. The few that were left had to begin anew. They learned how to live and adapt to their new home. Dengai came several times to see if they were doing well. But then, he came no more. Life was good for many years . . . until Bendrak arrived. It is said that he simply came one day, and many of our people died, their life power taken from them. It is told that his hunger and his anger was great, that hundreds died that day. Some tried to flee through the enkali, but they were killed by Bendrak.

"The years that followed were difficult. Every year, Bendrak would come to the villages and steal the life power from many people, both young and old. The people had no defense against him. They begged and pleaded with Bendrak to spare them, telling him that the people would all be gone soon if he kept killing us. Then, one day, Bendrak brought the life receptacles, telling the people that he would show mercy by allowing them to choose whose life power would be taken. The people would have the span of a year to gather the life power of two hundred people, which would then be given to him. Every year it was to be the same."

"So, that's how the Time of Tribute began," Daniel murmured.

"Yes."

"What about the temple?"

"Bendrak ordered the people to build the temple shortly after the first Time of Tribute. He said that he wanted a place to dwell. He told the people exactly how to build it."

"Ayarla, do you have any idea what Bendrak is? Have you ever seen him? My friends said they saw what looked like a black form, a shadow, in the temple."

Ayarla nodded. "He has appeared to us that way, as dark as Dengai was light. Mostly, he is unseen. Sometimes, he takes on a form that looks a little like us."

A feeling of tightness grew in the pit of Daniel's stomach as he began to suspect something. Hoping he was wrong, he asked, "Ayarla, the times that Bendrak came to the village, did things move about seemingly of their own will? Did fires break out?"

Ayarla's eyes widened. "Yes! But how could you know this? Every time Bendrak came, things flew through the air like they had been thrown by unseen hands. Fire shot up from the ground."

"Have there ever been any unexplained storms, times when clouds appeared out of nowhere and lightning struck?"

Ayarla shook her head. "No, I have no knowledge of such a thing happening, but there have been times when, in Bendrak's presence, a cold wind came." She studied Daniel's expression. "You look as if you know something."

"Yeah. I think I may have some idea of what Bendrak is. I need to talk to my friends. May I come back later?"

"Of course. You are welcome any time."

Daniel inclined his head and stood. "Thank you for your knowledge."

"It is my privilege."

Daniel left and found the others.

"Did you learn anything?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, and, if I'm right, you're not going to like it. Let's go back to our hut."

They went to the hut and all sat around the table.

"Okay, so what did you find out?" Jack asked.

"As you all may have suspected, it looks like the distant ancestors of these people were from Earth and were taken by the Goa'uld to another planet. Now, I don't know what their history was like after that, but, from what Ayarla said, it appears that the Goa'uld abandoned the planet and left the people to their own devices, who knows why. Something happened to the Stargate. Whether is was deliberate or accidental I don't know, but it no longer worked, so the population was trapped on the planet. Sometime after the Goa'uld left, there was a massive plague, which pretty much wiped out the entire population. That's when this Dengai showed up. And get this. I'm almost positive that Dengai was an Ancient."

"An Ancient?" Sam repeated in surprise.

"Yeah. This Dengai gathered up the survivors of the plague and took them through the Stargate. Since they are the original creators of the gate technology, it would have been simple for him to get it working again. Anyway, Dengai brought them here. There weren't many people left, so they basically had to start all over again, build a whole new way of life, begin a new history, pretty much start from scratch. Dengai visited from time to time to see how they were getting along, then he left them to fend for themselves."

"So, where does Benny fit into all of this?" Jack asked.

"I'm getting to that. Bendrak showed up years later and attacked the villages, killing hundreds. From that day on, he kept showing up, raiding the villages and stealing the life power from dozens of people at random, both young and old alike. He was decimating the population. Well, I guess Bendrak finally figured out that, if he kept doing that, there soon wouldn't be anyone left. So, he gave the natives those crystals. You know the rest of it. The natives began the ritual of the Time of Tribute, and it's been like that ever since."

"All right, so give us the bad news." Jack said.

"I think I know what Bendrak is."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I think he's something like an Ancient."

Jack stared at him in surprise. "What? You mean all the way or some kind of half-ascended things like Anubis?"

"I'd say that he's probably ascended all the way."

"What makes you think that Bendrak is like an Ancient?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure what gave me the idea. It was some things that Ayarla told me. I asked her some other questions, and the answers made me almost certain I'm right. Whenever Bendrak showed up in the village, things would move about and go flying through the air. Flames would shoot up from the ground. You remember Kheb?"

"How could I forget?" Jack replied. "Oh, please don't tell me that thing can do the lightning trick."

"I don't know. If he can, he's never done it here. But he apparently can control fire and move objects without touching them, just as Oma Desala can, and it appears that he has at least some control over the wind."

"But the Ancients we have encountered have not shown the evil that this Bendrak has displayed," Teal'c pointed out.

"Yeah, and they don't do that life draining thing either," Jack added.

"I didn't say that Bendrak _was_ an Ancient, just that he's something similar to one. Look, we don't understand the whole process of ascension, how a corporeal being can be transformed into a lifeform that's basically pure energy, yet retain all its personality and memories. So, who's to say that it couldn't happen in a different way, unlike what happened to me? If a corporeal being can be transformed into an energy-based lifeform, then it stands to reason that there might be different ways of achieving it."

"He's right," Sam said. "According to what we know, the Ancients discovered the secret of how to ascend, to transmute themselves into a form of life that is made up of energy. So, if such a thing can be done, then it is possible that someone found a way of doing it differently."

"Anubis did it," Daniel pointed out. "He somehow discovered how to ascend even though he couldn't possibly have reached the level of enlightenment that appears to be a requirement to become like the Ancients."

"Yeah, I don't think a Goa'uld would get into that whole Zen thing," Jack remarked.

"For all we know, Bendrak's species might have naturally evolved into what they are now."

"So, what you're saying is that we're dealing with some Ancient-like bad guy here who likes to eat the life . . . power from flesh and blood people."

"It may not be a case of just liking to, Colonel," Sam said. "This Bendrak is a form of energy. What if he needs to replenish that energy by taking it from others?"

"You mean like recharging his batteries?"

"In a way."

"Okay, so why is he here? These Ancients can travel all over the galaxy. Why didn't he go someplace where there are a lot more people?"

"Because he was stuck here," Daniel replied as if realizing something.

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked.

"It was something that Ayarla said. She said that the first time Bendrak came, he had great hunger and anger and killed hundreds of people. This might be a case similar to what was done to Orlin. Orlin was banished to Velona because he interfered with the civilization there. He was unable to leave until we came along. Then he hitchhiked back with us to Earth."

"But that brings up two questions," Sam said. "First, why didn't he take the opportunity to leave the planet when one of the Dicharins fled through the gate? Not only did he not do that, he punished the Dicharins so that they would never use the gate again. Second, if Dengai was an Ancient, why would he have left these people here on a planet where he'd know they would be attacked and killed by Bendrak?"

"I can't answer the first question, but I think I might have an answer for the second. Dengai probably didn't know that Bendrak was here. If Dengai was like Oma Desala, whom, according to what Orlin said, is acting outside the boundaries of the Ancients' society and defying their rules, he might not have been privy to a lot of information. When Dengai brought the Dicharins here, Bendrak could have been on the other side of the planet. He must have been pretty far away since he didn't become aware of the Dicharins' presence until many years later."

Jack shifted his position, his knees telling him that they were not happy about him sitting on the floor. "So, what you're saying is that Benny was off somewhere else when Denny—"

"Dengai," Daniel corrected.

"Den_gai_ brought these people here, then he ended up stumbling onto them sometime later and had himself a little smorgasbord."

"Colorfully put, but, yes, that's what I'm saying. Bendrak could have been stuck here for centuries, taking the life power from animals to keep himself alive. When he found these people, he saw in them a much better source for what he needed and lost control, went on a feeding frenzy."

"Gennae did say that the life power from animals didn't satisfy Bendrak as much as those from humans," Sam recalled.

"Okay, I have another question. How come Dengai wasn't punished for interfering like you were?" Jack asked. "You said that he visited here for a while after moving the people here. That means that the Ancients didn't exile him or make him mortal again."

"There could be a lot of reasons, but I'd say that the most logical explanation is that the other Ancients never knew what he did. The Ancients were probably watching me pretty closely since I was newly ascended. And they may have thought that there was a good chance I'd break the rules, which they were right in thinking. Dengai probably wasn't under observation."

Sam nodded. "That makes sense. We know that Oma Desala was around when you came to Abydos. She's probably the one who had the job of keeping an eye on you."

"Daniel, if you're right about all this, at least the part about Benny being sort of like an Ancient, that means there's no way for us to get rid of him," Jack concluded.

"Maybe yes, maybe no," Sam responded. "I mean, we don't know if an Ancient can be killed. When that alien weapon exploded, I really don't know if Orlin died in the explosion. He never returned, not even to say goodbye. It's possible that the force of the explosion disrupted Orlin's energy pattern, scattering it. He might not have been able to recover from something like that."

"But we do not know this for a certainty," Teal'c stated.

"No."

"But there's one thing we do know that interests me," Daniel said. "Gennae said that, after the Time of Tribute, Bendrak sleeps for a month. Why?"

"Good question," Sam said. "It may be possible that he needs time to assimilate and fully absorb the energy taken from the Dicharins."

"Which means that, right now, he may be vulnerable, in some sort of hibernation or stasis."

A slow smile came to Jack's face. "And, if he's sleeping in that temple, then we have a target zone."

"But how do we kill him?" Daniel asked.

"A small Naquadah bomb might do it," Sam mused. "If I'm right about Orlin, the explosion could disrupt his energy enough that it would effectively kill him."

"But a Naquadah bomb would wipe out everything for miles around."

"We'd have to evacuate everyone within the blast radius. With enough help, we might be able to do it. We could use several UAVs to search for other villages and habitations. The biggest loss of time would be getting to the villages, convincing the inhabitants to go with us, then leading them all to the Stargate."

"Why couldn't we bring the pieces of one of those big transport helicopters though, assemble it on this side of the gate, and use that to transport the Dicharins?" Daniel asked.

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"Now, why didn't I think of that?" Jack asked. He smiled. "That's a great idea, Daniel. Of course, if this whole area is covered by forest, which it looks like it is from the video the UAV sent back, we'd have trouble landing the helo, but we could send troops down to clear landing zones. With the right tools and enough men, it wouldn't take much time to clear an area big enough for the helo to land."

"We'd have to have representatives from this village go with the helicopter to talk with the other Dicharins. Otherwise, they'd probably be too scared to go with the troops," Daniel pointed out.

"There is one difficulty," Teal'c said. "If we detonate a Naquadah bomb in the temple, the blast will surely destroy the Stargate. We would be unable to return, and any Dicharins who were left here would be stranded. If Bendrak was not destroyed in the blast, the remaining Dicharins would be completely at his mercy."

"Yeah, there is that problem," Daniel admitted. "But, if we leave things the way they are, the human population on this planet will very likely become extinct. Gennae said that the population in the twenty villages he knows of has been declining gradually since Bendrak came. They may all be gone within the next generation or two."

"Well, if those twenty villages are the only ones and they're no bigger than this one, we shouldn't have any trouble getting everyone off this planet within the space of a month, barring any big delays," Jack said. "I can go back through the gate in the morning and tell the general our plan."

"We also need to find a suitable planet to take them to," Sam said. "These people are completely human, so any earthlike planet would probably work. I'm sure that it wouldn't be difficult to find one."

"Judging by the building materials they use for their homes, it's unlikely that this area gets much snowfall, if any." Daniel pointed out. "Since that's the kind of climate they're used to, we need to keep that in mind."

"So, it sounds like we've got a plan. Carter, you and I will return to the SGC in the morning. You can get the guys there started on finding a good planet, and I'll work on getting everything rolling for moving these people. Daniel, it's going to be up to you to talk to the natives and convince them that this is a good thing. Teal'c, you stay here with Daniel and keep an eye on everything."

The Jaffa inclined his head in acquiescence.

"I'm going to go back and talk to Ayarla some more," Daniel told them. "She and Gennae are the most influential people in the village. If I can convince them of the plan, I'd say that the rest of the villagers will go along with it."

"Okay, you go do your stuff, Daniel," Jack responded.

The archeologist headed back to Ayarla's hut. Along the way, he spied Gennae.

"Hello, Daniel. Ayarla told me that you and she shared much knowledge and that you believed you had learned something important about Bendrak," the chieftain said.

"Yes, I did. I was just going back there to talk with her about something. I need to talk with you about it as well. Could you come with me?"

"Yes, I will come."

The two men went to Ayarla's hut and she welcomed them inside.

"My friends and I have a plan," Daniel began. "We think that we know of a way to kill Bendrak."

The two natives looked at each other.

"How could this be possible?" Gennae asked.

"Well, it's hard to explain, but there is a device called a Naquadah bomb. It is very powerful. It causes something called an explosion, which does great damage. We think that, if we place one of these bombs in the temple while Bendrak is sleeping, it will destroy him."

"This would be a wonderful thing, if it could be done," the chieftain said. "We would no longer have to give Bendrak tribute."

"Yes, you would be free from him forever. But there is a problem. The destruction from this bomb would be so great that this entire area, for a distance of many days' walk, would also be destroyed. All of your people in all of the villages would have to be taken from here. Otherwise, they would all die."

"But where would we go?" Ayarla asked.

"We would take you through the enkali to another world, to a new home."

"Then we would have to start all over, like the way it was when we were first brought to this world by Dengai."

"Yes, but, this time, you'd have our help. My people will help build new villages for you. We'll make sure you have food, and clothing, and whatever else you need. You will not lose your history and culture since your Insharras will be with you. We'll come and visit you often to make sure things are going well for you."

"This is a great and generous thing that you are offering to us," Gennae said. "For what reason would you do so much for our people?"

"Because it is the way we are. Many times, we help others when they are in need of aid. You are our friends, and we want to do what we can for you."

Gennae bowed his head. "It was indeed a blessed day when you came to our world. We must talk to the people and tell them of these things. Tonight we will gather with the elders of the village."

"Good. Jack and Sam will be going back to Earth tomorrow to get the plans started." Daniel rose. "Well, I'll leave you two to discuss this."

"Wait. I would like to see your companions and give thanks to them as well," Gennae said.

"Sure."

They went to the guest hut. Jack and Teal'c were there. Gennae expressed his gratitude to them. A moment later, Sam came in. She was holding a red crystal approximately the size of a baseball in her hand.

"Uh, Carter, isn't that one of those things that sucks a person's life out of them?" Jack asked, looking at the thing warily.

"Yes, sir. I wanted to take a closer look at one. Don't worry. They can't be turned on accidentally. It takes a certain amount of concentration, sort of like the Goa'uld ribbon and healing devices."

"Yeah, well, just be careful where you point that thing."

Daniel stared at the crystal with an odd feeling. There was something about it that almost looked familiar, something dancing at the periphery of his memory. "Sam, can I see it?"

"Sure." She handed it to Daniel. The crystal was an octahedron, but it was not perfectly symmetrical. One of its eight faces was larger than the rest and slightly darker in hue. Daniel gazed at the crystal, trying to grab hold of the memory that was hovering just out of his reach. Something . . . something was wrong with it. It wasn't right. It should be different.

"Daniel?" Sam inquired, puzzled by the look on her friend's face and the way he was staring at the crystal.

"Daniel, I don't think—" Jack began.

Suddenly, the crystal blazed with a pure, blinding white light that seemed to engulf the archeologist.

"Daniel!" Sam cried.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

As the light flared up, Daniel cried out in shock and dropped the crystal. It continued to blaze for several seconds, then faded. It was now a brilliant, crystalline blue.

"What the hell just happened?" Jack yelled. "Daniel, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. It just startled me."

Jack looked at the chieftain. "Gennae, what was that?"

The old man was taking turns gaping at the crystal and Daniel. "I-I-I do not know," he stammered. "The life receptacles have never done that before. It is blue. They are never blue, and the light is always red." He stared at Daniel. "What did you do?"

"I . . . I didn't do anything, really. I mean, if I did, I don't know what it was. The crystal looked familiar to me, like I'd seen something like it before, except that it was wrong."

"Wrong?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah. My memory was telling me that it shouldn't look that way, that it shouldn't _be_ that way. It should be different." He pointed at it. "It should look like that."

"Okay, so how would you know that, and what made it change?" Jack wanted to know.

An expression of realization filled Daniel's face. "It's Ancient technology!"

"What?!"

"It's got to be. I must have memories of some of their technology buried in my mind. When I descended, I had complete knowledge of their language, so it is possible that I also have at least some hidden knowledge of their technology."

Gennae was staring at him. "Ayarla told me you said that Dengai was one of these beings you call Ancients. Is that true?"

"Um, yes."

"How is it that you have their knowledge?"

"Uhhh . . . because I was one, sort of, at least for a while."

The chieftain's eyes grew huge. "Y-you were a . . . a god like Dengai?" he said in a hushed voice.

"No! They're not gods, Gennae. The Ancients are an advanced race of beings. Once, a long time ago, they were like us, creatures of flesh and blood, but they found a way to ascend to a higher plane of existence, become a more advanced lifeform that no longer needs a physical body. I met one of them. Her name was Oma Desala, and she taught me some things. About a year and a half ago, there was an accident. I was dying. Oma came to me and helped me to ascend, to become one of them. I stayed that way for a year. Then something happened, and I was made mortal again. I'm just a man now, Gennae, like you."

The Dicharin shook his head. "You are not a man like me, for I could not make the life receptacles glow like the sun and turn blue."

Daniel looked at the crystal. He bent down and reached for it.

"Daniel! Don't. . . . Too late." Jack sighed as his warning not to touch the thing came too late.

The archeologist gazed at the crystal in his hand. "It feels different. It's warm. It was cold before."

"Cold? I didn't notice any coldness," Sam said.

"This is the way it's supposed to be," Daniel said with conviction.

Jack looked at his 2IC inquiringly. "Carter? Got any explanations?"

"Well, sir, this might be similar to how it is with me and Goa'uld technology. Jolinar left me with the memory of how to use the ribbon and healing devices. I was able to control them because of that and the fact that I have Naquadah in my blood. We might be seeing something like that with Daniel. Somewhere in his memory is the knowledge of what that thing is and how to use it. He ended up accidentally turning it on. Daniel, you said that it was wrong before, that this is the way it should be."

The archeologist nodded. "I think it's possible that Bendrak got hold of whatever these things are and altered them for his own purpose. I do know one thing for sure, they were not designed to take the life energy from people."

Sam turned to Jack. "Sir, I'd really like to take this one back with me. I'd also like to borrow one of the red ones. I want to run some tests and see if I can detect a difference in them. Would that be all right with you, Gennae?"

"Yes, you may take one of the others and you may have that one that Daniel has changed." He glanced at the linguist, a touch of awe still on his face. "I must go now to spread word of tonight's gathering." The old man bowed and quickly left.

Daniel made a face. "I really hope this isn't going to cause a problem."

"What's the matter, Daniel? Worried that they'll want to start worshiping you?" Jack asked, amusement on his face.

"Are you kidding? Do you know how much work it is to be a god? The paperwork alone would kill you."

"I do not recall seeing the Goa'uld doing paperwork, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c commented.

The other three smiled at the remark then grew serious. Daniel's expression turned thoughtful.

"You know, this might also explain why I was able to sense Bendrak's presence, but none of you could," he said. "Sam can sense the presence of a symbiote because she had one. Maybe I can sense the presence of an Ancient or a creature like an Ancient because I was ascended."

Sam nodded. "You could be onto something there. That is a logical explanation."

"So, you're now our glowy person detector, eh?" Jack said. "Well, that's good to know, because if any of those guys come around, I want to have a serious talk with them."

"Ticking off an Ancient isn't a good way to ensure your continued health, Jack."

"Hey, who said I was going to tick any of them off? I just want to express my dissatisfaction about their totally ludicrous policies on noninterference."

"Uh huh. Just don't be standing anywhere near me when you do."

Daniel went out to speak with the Dicharin people, carrying along an armful of books. About an hour and a half later, Sam went looking for him. Upon finding him, she halted her steps, gazing at the sight before her. Daniel was sitting on the ground under a tree, several children gathered about him, the littlest one in his lap. He had a book in his hand, but was not looking at it. Instead, he was telling a story. The children all gazed at him with rapt attention as the archeologist recounted the tale of Jason and the Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece.

Feeling warmth spread through her heart, Sam watched him. This was one of the reasons why she loved this man so much. Noticing her presence, Daniel looked at her for a moment, a breathtaking smile lighting his face. Then he returned his attention to the kids.

"He is a fine man," said a voice near Sam's shoulder. She looked down to see an elderly woman.

"Yes, he is. They don't come any better than Daniel."

The woman looked at her. "I am Ayarla, the Insharra of this village. You are Samantha Carter, the one Daniel calls Sam."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, that's me."

"You are Daniel's mate?"

Sam blushed. "Uh . . . uh, no, we're just friends," she stammered.

Ayarla looked at her curiously. "Yet, just now, you looked at him as a woman looks at the man she loves."

Sam's gaze dropped to the ground. "It's . . . complicated." She was surprised when the elderly woman laughed.

"Love is not complicated, Child," Ayarla informed her. "Either you love someone or you do not. It is the thoughts and emotions that we heap in the same basket as love that makes things complicated. The true test of your love's strength and your commitment to it is if you are willing to dig past those other things and set your love free. Then you will see how simple it can be."

Sam looked back at Daniel, who was just finishing his story.

"Tell us another one!" cried several of the children.

Daniel laughed. "Not today." At the sounds of disappointment, he added, "If I can, I'll tell another one tomorrow."

Gently removing the child from his lap, Daniel got up and came over to Sam and Ayarla.

"You would be a good father," the older woman said.

The archeologist looked over at the kids, who were now playing. "I hope so." His expression became distant, his eyes gazing off at something only he could see. "I'd want my kids to have a better childhood than I did."

Sadly, Sam knew that it wouldn't take much for a kid to have a better childhood than Daniel had.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know the villagers. It didn't take long before all of the people were treating Daniel like a much loved member of the village. He talked with Ayarla some more, learning about their history and their culture.

"Gennae told me about what you did to the life receptacle," the woman said when there was a lull in the conversation. "He told me that you said you were once a being like Dengai."

"Um, yeah."

"Yet you say you were not a god."

"No, the Ancients are not gods. They are simply a very advanced lifeform, one that doesn't normally have a physical body."

"What was it like to be such a being?"

"I'm afraid that I have almost no memory of that time," Daniel told her. "You see, the Ancients have very strict rules about some things. One of their biggest rules is that they are not allowed to interfere with or help other races, not even individuals. I, um, had sort of a problem with that. I don't remember the incident myself, but my friends told me about something that happened. An entire race of people were in danger from an evil creature called Anubis. I found out that Anubis was going to come to the planet in search of a powerful weapon. I warned Jack about it, and my friends went to the planet to keep Anubis from getting the weapon. I helped them out even though I wasn't supposed to. Things got very bad, and I tried to stop Anubis from destroying the planet. I failed. Though I have no memory of it, I think the Ancients prevented me from stopping Anubis, and, because I had interfered, they punished me."

"They made you flesh and blood again as punishment?"

"I think so, though I can't be sure. Perhaps they gave me a choice, and I chose to be human again."

"But I do not understand this. Dengai saved my people from destruction, yet he was not punished. He came to this world for several years afterwards to see if the people were well."

"Yeah, I know. I don't know for sure why Dengai wasn't punished," Daniel admitted. "To be honest, I don't understand the motivations of the Ancients at all. I can't understand why they won't allow their kind to help people in need."

"If you were still an Ancient, you would not be allowed to help us now?"

"No."

"Then, though you are mere flesh and blood, you are greater than the Ancients," Ayarla stated with conviction. "No matter how great a person's power, if they cannot or will not use it for the sake of others, that power is of no value. If it was your choice to become mortal again, you made the right decision."

Daniel smiled faintly. "I think you're right, Ayarla."

It was after the evening meal when a group of the villagers, including Gennae and Ayarla, gathered to discuss SG-1's proposal. Jack, Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were invited to be there so that they could clarify things and answer questions.

"You will bring all of the Dicharins through the enkali?" one man asked during the gathering. "None will be left behind?"

"If there are only twenty villages, as Gennae said, then we shouldn't have any problem getting everyone, that is if everybody agrees to go," Jack replied. "We won't force anyone to come."

"What will happen to us once we are taken to our new world?" someone else asked.

"We'll help you build new villages," Daniel told him. "We will make sure that you have everything you need: food, clothing, medicine, tools for building. We won't abandon you to fend for yourselves."

"We've done this sort of thing before," Sam said. "This wouldn't be the first time that we've helped a society move to another planet and get established there."

"How do we know that Bendrak will not follow us to this new planet?" a woman asked.

"We're pretty sure that what we're planning on doing will kill Bendrak," Jack answered. "But, even if it doesn't, the Stargate will be destroyed, or, at the very least, buried. There's no way that he'll be able to follow you."

"So, we would truly be free from him? No more tribute?"

"No more tribute."

The villagers whispered among themselves.

"Do any more of you have questions for these people?" Gennae asked. Everyone shook their heads no. The chieftain turned to SG-1. "Please, then, let us discuss this. I will give you our answer when we have decided."

SG-1 left the meeting hut and went to their own.

"So, you think they'll go for it?" Jack asked.

"I think so," Daniel replied. "What reason would they have for not doing so? We're offering them the chance to be free from Bendrak."

It was a little over half an hour later that Gennae came.

"We have decided to accept your offer, but only if all of the other villages do the same. We do not want some of our people to be left behind to be destroyed by Bendrak or by this weapon of yours."

Jack nodded. "Fair enough. We'll get started on the planning stages tomorrow."

"Gennae, we're going to need some of your people to come with us to the other villages to talk with them," Daniel said. "They may not trust us if we go there alone."

The chieftain nodded. "Yes, that would be a wise thing. But it will take many days for us to walk to all of the villages."

"We won't need to walk. Our people have machines that can fly. One of them is going to be brought through, and we'll use it to go from village to village."

Gennae shook his head in wonder. "Your people can truly do amazing things."

The next morning, all four members of SG-1 returned to Earth. Daniel wanted to do some research, and since the villagers had already decided to go along with the plan, there was no need for him to stay. He intended to return to the planet, which they now knew was named Dichar, as soon as they got the okay for relocating the people.

In the debriefing, SG-1 told Hammond their plan.

"So, you intend on detonating a Naquadah bomb to destroy Bendrak?" the general asked.

"Yes, sir," Jack confirmed. "It seems pretty likely that it would be enough to kill that thing. Even if it doesn't, it'll put the Stargate out of commission and trap Benny there with no more people to feed on."

"You do realize that I will have to get permission from the president for this."

"Of course, sir," Sam said. "In the meantime, I'd like us to get started searching for planets that will be suitable for the Dicharins."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," Jack remarked. "It's not like there's a lack of trees on most of the planets we go to."

"Yes, but we'll want one that doesn't already have an intelligent species living on it," Daniel said. "It's going to be a lot better not having to introduce the Dicharins to another intelligent lifeform that already has a claim on the planet. Of course, short of exploring the entire planet, we won't be able to tell for certain that there are no forms of intelligence on it, but at least we can check the area within a few hundred miles of the gate."

The debriefing continued, and they soon brought up the issue of the crystals and what Daniel did. The general looked at him.

"Are you certain that these crystals are Ancient technology?"

"Not one hundred percent certain, but it makes sense," Daniel replied. "I somehow had knowledge of them, and I was able to change that one crystal back to the way I knew it should be. Since I'd never seen anything like them when I was human, the only way I can think of that I would have that knowledge is if I gained it while I was ascended. I suppose there is a chance that I merely witnessed the use of them by someone else while I was on some planet, but that wouldn't explain how I was able to change that crystal. I just have a feeling that those things were made by the Ancients."

"Which means that you retain at least some knowledge of the Ancients."

"Yeah, about that, General," Jack said. "Is there some way that you can sort of skim over this part in your report? The thought of the NID finding out that Daniel may have knowledge of Ancient technology hidden in his mind really makes me nervous. It's been a concern of mine ever since Daniel descended that the NID might think about that and decide that they'd like to do some investigating, if you know what I mean."

"Yes, I do know what you mean, Colonel, and you are right that it's something to be concerned about. We've all seen what the NID is capable of when they're seeking new technology, and, though they seem to have cleaned up their act, I still don't trust them entirely. I will downplay the incident with the crystal as much as I can in my report."

"Thank you, sir."

The debriefing ended, and everyone went off to their separate tasks. Sam got several people started on the search for a planet, then went to her lab, bearing the two crystals that she'd brought back. She ran several tests on them, the first being an attempt to see what was inside. Whatever the material was that the crystals were made out of, it could not be penetrated by the CT scanner, and she dare not use an MRI because of the chance that the device had metal parts inside. She then ran some scans to see if she could detect some kind of energy output. She had a lot more luck with that, though what she learned still could not help her understand how they worked. One interesting thing she did note was that the energy signature from the crystal Daniel changed was significantly different from the unaltered one.

Sam then tested the reactions of the crystals to being touched. There was no reaction at all, which didn't surprise her since she knew that it took a certain amount of concentration to turn them on. Knowing what the red crystals did, she wasn't about to try getting these to work without setting up a whole lot more safeguards.

Sam placed the crystal she was holding back in the case. "Let's check for radioactivity next, Lieutenant," she said to her assistant, Graham Simmons, who was up in the booth overlooking the room she was in. "Start with. . . . Whoa, what's going on?"

"Major, the energy readings from both crystals are climbing," Simmons warned.

"Yes, I can see that, but what's causing it?"

"Energy levels are still rising, Major," Simmons announced a moment later.

"Okay, something's happening here. I think we'd better—"

"Hey, Sam. How's it going?" Daniel asked from the doorway, startling the major. He then got a good look at her expression. "What's wrong?"

"We detected a slight energy output from the two crystals. It was pretty low up until a few moments ago, then it suddenly started climbing."

Daniel came all the way into the lab and walked up to the case containing the crystals. "Dangerous?"

"I don't know. I have no experience with these energy patterns. They're unlike anything I've ever seen before." Sam looked at the monitor. "Okay, the levels seem to be holding now. They've stopped climbing. I think we're all right."

"Do you have any idea how they work?" Daniel asked.

"I'm afraid not. But the crystal you changed is definitely different from the other one. The energy pattern isn't the same. Whatever you did to it, it was more than just change the color." Sam looked at him. "You still don't remember anything else about these things?"

The archeologist shook his head. "I've been doing some research. I was hoping to find some historical reference to something like these things, but I haven't found anything so far. Of course, I've really only just gotten started. It could take weeks. I was just checking to see if you'd learned anything."

"Not much, I'm afraid. And, now, I've got a new puzzle to solve."

"Well, I'll let you get back to work. Maybe we can get together for lunch."

Sam smiled. "That would be nice."

Daniel left the office.

"Major, the energy levels are decreasing," Simmons told her a moment later.

"What?" Sam looked at the monitor. Sure enough, the levels were going down. "How strange." She watched as they returned to their former levels. "Okay, let's check for radiation."


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Daniel returned to his office and sat back down at his computer. He had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that there was something he should be remembering, something important. The last time he had such a feeling was when he was getting flashbacks of something he'd seen while ascended. That time, his memory saved the lives of Rya'c and Bra'tac, as well as many other Jaffa who then joined the resistance. What secret was trying to surface from the confines of his memory this time? Daniel was sure it had something to do with the crystals.

Daniel turned his attention back to his search. He was only a few minutes into it when a thought came to him. Back when the knowledge of the Ancients was accidentally downloaded into Jack's brain, Daniel came up with the idea that the Ancients might have been the race that the Romans called the Ancient Ones, the 'gods' that taught them how to build roads. If these crystals were Ancient technology, it was safe to assume that, if there was any mention of them in Earth's history, it would most likely be within the history of the Roman civilization.

Narrowing his search to Roman myths and legends, specifically those associated with the gods they called the Ancient Ones, Daniel continued his search. Before he knew it, it was 12:30. He headed over to Sam's lab. There was an expression of bewilderment on the major's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know. The energy readings have gone up again. I just can't figure it out. They dropped back down and have been holding steady until just a few seconds ago. Now, they've increased substantially again."

"And you have no clue what's causing the increase?"

"None. We haven't done a thing."

Daniel looked at the crystals. "I'm assuming that you won't be going to lunch."

"I can't, Daniel. Something is affecting these crystals, and I need to figure out what it is. I have to determine if they pose a danger to the base."

"Okay. I hope you have some luck, Sam, and if you want any help, just let me know." Daniel smiled. "Maybe we can put our heads together like we used to."

Sam returned his smile. "You know, I wouldn't mind that at all. Maybe we'd get this thing figured out. How about if you go get your lunch and bring me back something?"

"Sure, I can do that. I'll be back in a few." He left the lab and headed to the commissary. He was looking forward to working with Sam. There was a time when they did that a lot, but, over the years, it had become less frequent.

Daniel got sandwiches for himself and Sam, along with two cups of coffee, then returned to the lab. By the look on Sam's face, he knew that she was pretty frustrated.

"Did it do it again?" he asked.

"Yeah. After you left, the levels went down, and, now, they've gone back up again," she replied.

Daniel put the food down and approached the case containing the crystals. "They went down after I left?"

"Uh huh."

"_Right_ after I left?"

Sam looked at him, frowning. "Yes."

"When did they start going back up?"

"Just a moment ago."

"Just before I came back?"

"Yeah. Daniel, what are you thinking?"

"Sam, every time the levels were high, was I here?"

Sam stared at him, realizing what he was inferring. "Daniel, are you saying that you're the one causing the increased levels of energy?"

"Well, I don't know, but it seems kind of coincidental that each time the levels went up was when I came here. It would be easy enough to test. I'll walk out of the room, and you see what happens."

Sure enough, as soon as Daniel left, the energy output from the crystals decreased. A few seconds later, they began climbing again, and a moment later, Daniel walked into the room.

"This is unbelievable," Sam said. "The crystals are actually reacting to your presence. The closer you are to them, the higher the energy reading is." She looked at him. "Daniel, there has to be something within you that's causing this."

Daniel's brow knit with a frown. "I wonder if it could have anything to do with this chemical anomaly that Janet's been keeping an eye on." The doctor had been periodically running blood tests on Daniel and, to date, the anomaly was still present.

"Um, I don't know. I guess it's possible. We really don't know how these things work."

"Well, we're pretty sure that they are controlled by thought processes. Our brains regulate the production and release of a lot of the chemicals in our bodies. This chemical anomaly might be a result of some change in my brain that Janet hasn't detected, and the crystals are somehow picking up on it."

"I think we should go see Janet."

A little while later, they were in the infirmary. Jack showed up a few minutes later, having been called by Sam.

"Okay, so what's all this about?" he asked.

"Somehow, Daniel's presence affects those crystals," Sam told him. "Whenever he's nearby, there is an increase in the energy they emit."

"You're kidding. How?"

"That's what I'm hoping to find out," Janet said. "I'm going to be running some tests on Daniel that I didn't get the opportunity to after he . . . came back to life, plus a few more that I wouldn't normally do."

Daniel found himself once again subjected to a plethora of tests. Finally, Janet told him she was done and let him join the rest of his team, who were all hanging out in the commissary.

"Remind me never to get sick or injured ever again," Daniel said as he plopped heavily into a chair.

"Well, you've got about as much chance of that happening as I do of my hair spontaneously turning brown again," Jack stated.

"Did Janet say anything?" Sam asked.

"No. She said it would be a while before she gets the results from the million different scans she did of my brain. Now I know what bacteria feels like when it's under a microscope."

Daniel was finally called back to the infirmary. The others went with him.

"So, what did you find out?" the archeologist asked.

"Something pretty startling," Janet replied. "Okay, first of all, I should explain some things. Though science has been able to figure out what certain portions of the brain are used for, there are still large areas that are a complete mystery to us. Though there has been plenty of conjecture, we honestly don't know what functions those areas of the brain serve."

"Isn't it true that there are portions of the brain that don't seem to be used much?" Daniel asked.

"There is evidence that seems to support that, and it has to do with my next point, which is the role that glial cells and dendrite connections play in the functioning of the brain."

"What and what?" Jack asked.

"Among other things, glia are the supporting cells of the nervous system," Janet explained. "You could think of them as the scaffolding for our neurons. They provide both support and protection. They supply oxygen and nutrients to the neurons, insulate neurons from each other, and remove the carcasses of dead neurons. The fact is that we are only just beginning to fully understand and appreciate the importance of their role in the functioning of the nervous system. It has recently been determined that they are directly responsible for how many connections neurons form so that the neurons can 'talk' to each other."

"And these dentine things?"

"Dendrites are the tree-like fibers along which information flows from one nerve cell to another. You could call them the antennae for our neurons. They are responsible for transforming the information received from synapses into a neural code that is then transmitted to other neurons. Dendritic signal processing is fundamental for learning, memory and behavior. The more dendrite connections there are, the greater the amount of information that can be processed. Dendrites grow as a result of stimulation from and interaction with the environment and from gaining new knowledge. Greater usage of the brain through learning and stimulation creates greater dendrite connectivity. Our brains have the capacity to grow as many as one million billion dendrite connections, yet no member of the human race has more than a fraction of that many."

Though he had trouble with some of the terminology, Jack managed to understand what she was saying. "So, what does this have to do with Daniel?"

"Well, many years ago, in studying Albert Einstein's brain, it was discovered that his brain had an unusually high number of glial cells in his parietal lobe, the area of the brain that is believed to facilitate abstract thought. From this discovery it has been theorized that higher numbers of glial cells in various areas of the brain is an indicator that those areas of the brain are being used more cognitively and extensively than normal, which would fit in with the recent conclusion that glia are responsible for how many connections neurons form."

Janet looked at everyone, to make sure they were following along. "I have on file an old scan of Daniel's brain, one taken before he ascended. The most notable thing about the scan is that it shows a great deal more dendrite branching than what you would see in an average human of his age."

"Because of his level of intelligence and knowledge," Sam said.

Janet nodded. "It also shows a far higher than normal glial cell count in several portions of his brain."

"Which would be understandable if the theory about glial cells is correct."

"Yes. But here's the kicker. The new scans I just took show a massive increase in both dendrite connections and glial cells in several parts of Daniel's brain. The difference is staggering."

"How is such a thing possible?" Teal'c asked.

"Well, as I said before, new dendrite connections are made through learning or through stimulation. Now, obviously, while Daniel was ascended, he learned new things, gained new knowledge, and since he descend he's gained still more knowledge. So it would stand to reason that there would be new dendrite connections."

"Is this something like what happened to me when that thing on P . . . whatever dumped all that Ancient gunk into my brain and overloaded it?" Jack asked.

"Ah, now that leads to the point that I was just about to make. While it is true that new dendrite connections are made as we learn new things, it's also true that if those same connections no longer receive stimulation, they actually retreat and disappear. When I did your scan after that incident with the Ancients' repository of knowledge, it showed an enormous number of dendrite connections throughout your brain, but if I was to do a scan now, most of the dendrite connections that grew then would be gone because the knowledge was removed, and you are no longer using those connections."

"I think I see where you're going with this, Janet," Sam said. "Even if Daniel was given all the knowledge of the Ancients when he was ascended, he no longer has that knowledge, so the dendrites would be retreating, just like in the colonel."

"Yes."

"Actually, I don't think I was ever given all of their knowledge," Daniel said.

"Why do you think that?" Sam asked. "Wouldn't it make sense for them to give that knowledge to you?"

"Yes, you'd think so, and it's true that I must have been given at least some of their knowledge, but I had to have been kept quite a bit in the dark. You told me that, in that secret chamber on Abydos, I was surprised to learn that I was an Ancient, or, rather, that I was the same type of being as the Ancients. Considering what I already knew about them, doesn't it stand to reason that, if I had been given all of their knowledge, I'd have been able to figure out that Oma Desala and her kind were the Ancients?"

"Yes, you would think so," Sam said, knowing that Daniel would have easily been able to make the connection. "So, why didn't they give you all their knowledge?"

"I don't know. There must have been a reason. Regardless, whatever knowledge they did give me was removed when I was kicked out of the club, so to speak, though some residual memories are still there, and I have complete knowledge of their language." Daniel looked at Janet. "Sorry about that. We sort of got sidetracked."

"That's okay," the doctor assured him. "So, there is the mystery of why all these new dendrite connections and glial cells have grown. And there's something else, the fact that a huge number of those cells, as well as a great many of the new dendrite connections, are in portions of the brain that we have no knowledge of regarding what functions they serve. More than that, there is dendrite branching in some of the areas of the brain where we normally see very little. In other words, Daniel, there are parts of your brain that have suddenly been made a great deal more active than they were before."

"So, what caused this?" Sam asked.

"I wish I knew. Unfortunately, I didn't take a scan of Daniel's brain after he descended, so I have no way of knowing if some of these changes were caused by his ascension. However, the fact that the new dendrite connections presently exist means that either they are still actively being used or that they were very newly formed. I know for a certainty that the chemical anomalies in his blood were not present before this latest incident."

"Okay, so what does all this mean?" Jack asked. "What does it have to do with the fact that, when Daniel gets near those crystals, they start going nuts?"

"Daniel and I both suspect that these crystals work like some of the Goa'uld hand devices in that they are controlled by the mind of the user," Sam answered. "If that's true, the crystals are most likely detecting the differences in Daniel's brain and responding to it."

"Yeah, but what I want to know now is what all this new activity in my brain means," Daniel said. "I haven't seen a difference in the way I am now than what I was before I ascended. I mean, I'm no smarter, and I don't seem to have any new abilities."

"It's hard to say," Janet admitted. "It could be that you simply don't have the capacity to consciously access the areas of your brain that have been opened up more fully."

"Daniel, when you changed that crystal, you didn't do it consciously, did you," Sam said.

"No. I wasn't even aware that I was doing anything to it," Daniel told her. "I just knew that there was something wrong with it."

"So, whatever you did to it was done on a subconscious level."

"You know, hypnosis can be used to access the subconscious mind," Janet said. "Deep regression hypnotherapy is often used to reclaim repressed memories. I don't know if it would do any good in this regard, but it's something worth thinking about."

"Um, I'm not so sure this is something that we should mess around with," Daniel said. "I have a feeling that this could be a Pandora's box that we need to keep a lid on, at least for now."

"I agree," Jack said. "I really, really don't like the idea of opening up Daniel's brain and digging around in there."

"Oh, thank you so much for that lovely mental picture, Jack," Daniel said. "Now I'm going to have nightmares of people with shovels digging through my brain matter."

"As many brains as you have, Daniel, they'd need a backhoe."

"Thanks . . . I think."

"So, I guess the question now is, what are we going to do?" Sam said. "I've gotten nowhere in trying to figure out how those crystals work, and I have no clue what the one Daniel changed even does."

"How dangerous is this energy that the crystals are giving out?" Janet asked.

"I don't think it would be harmful to the human body, if that's what you're asking," Sam told her. "We didn't detect any form of radiation. However, if the levels got high enough, it is possible that it could adversely affect electronic equipment. I'd like to run a test, but I'm going to need General Hammond's permission for it."

"What sort of test?" Jack asked.

"I want to see what happens when Daniel holds the crystals."

"Uhhh, I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Jack, I held them on Dichar, and they didn't hurt me, even when I accidentally changed the crystal," Daniel reasoned.

"Now, you see, we don't know that. Maybe all these new dentine and gal things grew in your head because of those crystals."

"Even if that were true, it can't harm me to have more glial cells and dendrite connections."

Sam smiled faintly. "Actually, just the opposite, since it can potentially increase your intelligence."

"Do we really want Daniel to be smarter? He already runs rings around most of the rest of us," Jack muttered.

Sam's smile grew, and she glanced at Daniel, who looked both amused and embarrassed by the compliment. She then became serious. "If we do decide to do this, it would be a wise precaution to do it someplace where the exposure of vital electronic components to the energy would be limited."

After being assured that all precautions would be taken and there would be no physical danger, the crystals and monitoring equipment were taken to a room on the sub-basement floor of the complex. The concrete walls of the room were a foot thick and lead-sealed. If anything went wrong, the effects would, theoretically, be limited to the room.

Daniel, Sam and Janet entered the room. Janet had insisted on being there to monitor Daniel's physical condition. In the room next door, Jack, Teal'c and General Hammond were gathered. They would be observing the events via closed circuit camera, which was broadcasting a picture onto a large monitor.

"All right, Daniel, we're ready," Sam told him after Janet got him hooked up to an EEG. "Why don't we start with the blue one."

Daniel opened the case and picked up the blue crystal. He detected the same feeling of warmth in the crystal that he'd felt before.

"As I suspected, there was a huge jump in the energy output as soon as Daniel touched the crystal," Sam announced. She studied the readout. "I'm also seeing some other variations here. Hmm. That's interesting. I'm picking up infrasonic waves issuing from the crystal. They're extremely weak, though."

"That concerns me," Janet said. "Infrasound has been proven to cause all kinds of harmful effects in the human body, anywhere from mild nausea to the rupturing of organs and death."

"The amplitude of these infrasonic waves is far too low to have any ill effects, Janet," Sam assured her.

The doctor took a look at Daniel's EEG. "I'm seeing a slight elevation in Daniel's brainwave pattern. Are you feeling all right, Daniel?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he assured her.

"Okay, let's try the other crystal," Sam said.

Daniel replaced the blue crystal and picked up the red one. The moment he did, he got that same sensation that there was something wrong with the crystal.

"All right, we're seeing a dramatic increase in the energy level, just like we did with the blue one," Sam said. "Wait. The level is oscillating. We're getting sharp spikes."

"Daniel? Daniel, are you all right?" Janet asked with some urgency.

The archeologist blinked a couple of times, then turned to look at her. "Huh? Oh. Um, yeah, I'm okay."

"Your EEG reading was increasing significantly."

"Daniel, what just happened?" Sam asked. "The energy output of the crystal was getting pretty erratic. Now, it's leveled out."

"I think I started to change it, like what happened with the other one," Daniel told her. "It's almost instinctual. I can feel that the crystal is wrong, that it's not supposed to be like this, and something in my mind automatically tries to fix it."

Sam looked at the crystal in Daniel's hand, then up at the camera. "Sir? If Daniel is willing, I'd like to go ahead and let him change the crystal. I want to see what happens during the transformation."

"Is that wise, Major?" General Hammond asked.

"I did it before, and nothing happened to me or to anyone else," Daniel replied.

"It might give us a better idea of what we're dealing with," Sam said.

There was a pause, then, "All right, Major, but be careful. You, too, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel shared a look with Sam.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to, Daniel," she told him.

"No, I think we should. It'll be fine. I did it before without any problems."

Daniel looked down at the red crystal in his hand. He lifted his arm and aimed the crystal toward the far wall, just to be safe. He then concentrated on it, willing it to change to what it was supposed to be.

"Energy levels are growing erratic again," Sam announced. "They're increasing."

"Daniel's brainwave pattern is increasing, too," Janet said. "It's—"

The crystal abruptly exploded with a brilliant white light, like what happened on the planet. This time, Daniel did not drop the crystal. He continued to focus his mind on it, his will bent to the task of making it work.

"Energy output is going off the scale!" Sam yelled. "Infrasonic waves are increasing! Daniel! Daniel, stop!" She gasped. "Oh my God!"

Sam's last outcry came when the air in the room suddenly seemed to ripple. A deep, thrumming, throbbing pulse that could be felt in their very bones vibrated through them. The overhead lights flickered and dimmed. All at once, the wall across the room appeared to warp out of shape, twisting and undulating crazily. There was an intense flash of light that blinded everyone, then the room went black and there was dead silence. A moment later, the emergency lighting snapped on.

Sam blinked her eyes clear just in time to see Daniel sway drunkenly and crash to his knees, the crystal falling from his grasp.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Daniel!" Sam and Janet cried at the same time. They ran to the stricken archeologist and went to their knees beside him.

"I'm all right," he told them in a whispery voice. His legs no longer able to support him, he sat heavily on the floor. "God, I feel so weak."

Just then, the door flew open, and Jack and Teal'c came rushing in. The base's warning claxon could be heard coming from behind them.

"Daniel!" Jack cried as he saw his friend on the floor. He immediately went to the archeologist's side. He looked at Sam. "What the hell happened? We saw that wall over there start going crazy, then there was a flash of light, and the power went out."

Hammond came into the room. "The entire base is on emergency lighting." He looked down at Daniel, who was being examined by the doctor. "How is he?"

"I'm not sure, sir," Janet answered. "His pulse is quite low, and he's very lethargic. I need to get him to the infirmary."

"I'm just really, really tired," Daniel mumbled, his eyelids and head drooping. He was leaning heavily against Sam, as if he didn't have the strength to support himself.

"We're going to need a gurney," Janet said. "I don't think he can walk."

She placed a call, and two orderlies brought a gurney down. They lifted Daniel onto it, and he was taken up to the infirmary. He lost consciousness on the way.

By the time they arrived at the infirmary, full power had been restored. Hammond left to get a report on the base's status while Daniel's teammates waited to find out what was wrong with him.

"How is he?" Jack asked the doctor as soon as she came to them.

"In a word, exhausted. It's like that thing sapped all of the energy out of him. If he was awake, he'd probably feel like he just ran thirty miles, swam ten miles, then went and climbed a mountain. He's deeply asleep, and that's what he needs more than anything else right now."

Sam relaxed slightly. "So, he's going to be all right?"

"I'll be running some blood tests, but, yes, I'm pretty sure he'll be fine."

Relieved, Jack turned his attention to what happened. "So, does anyone have any idea what went on in there?"

"I'm not sure, sir, but it almost looked like some kind of spatial distortion," Sam replied. "I've never seen anything like it before. What totally amazes me is that something that small could contain that much power. To warp space like that would take a tremendous amount of energy."

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c, please report to the briefing room," came a voice over the speaker.

The three members of SG-1 went to the briefing room. Hammond came in a few seconds later.

"How is Doctor Jackson?" he asked.

"He's going to be all right, sir," Sam replied. "Doctor Fraiser says that the crystal just sapped all his energy. With plenty of sleep, he'll be fine."

"That's good to hear. Reports have been coming in. The entire complex was on emergency power for several minutes, and we've gotten reports of a temporary blackout in the area. It appears that something absorbed power directly from the power plant and interrupted the flow of electricity."

"I guess that explains where the power that the crystal needed came from," Sam said. "It must have the capacity to draw in as much as it requires."

"Requires for what, Major?" Hammond asked.

"As I told the colonel, from what I could see, the crystal caused a spatial distortion of some kind. If that's true, it's absolutely incredible. We're talking about an object the size of a baseball warping spacetime. There's no telling what could be done with technology like that. I really need to open one of those crystals up and see what's inside."

"Yeah, but what good is it if Daniel's the only one who can make it work?" Jack asked.

"There may be a way to get around that, sir. However, if this technology can warp spacetime, it could be very dangerous. That's not something to take lightly. I'd be very nervous about letting anyone else get their hands on it."

"Unfortunately, I have no choice but to report this," the general said.

Jack made a face. "I suppose you couldn't hold off on that for a while."

"Colonel, the entire mountain lost power, along with a chunk of the city. I've already had people on the phone asking what we're doing down here. I managed to stall them, but I won't be able to keep this under wraps for very long. As long as no one specifically asks, I can leave out the fact that it was Doctor Jackson who made the crystal work. Sooner or later, however, it may get out anyway."

Sam sighed. "This is my fault, sir. I shouldn't have had Daniel change the crystal."

"You had no way of knowing this was going to happen, Major. What's done is done. Now, we just have to handle things the best we can."

"And try to keep Daniel out of the hands of those NID vultures," Jack said, a distinct growl in his voice.

Sam went off to analyze the data gathered from the test, leaving Jack alone with Hammond.

"General, you know what's going to happen if the NID guys get hold of that crystal and find out that Daniel is the only one who can make it work."

Hammond nodded wearily. "Yes, I do. Fortunately, Doctor Jackson can't be ordered to make the crystal work again or to undergo any tests against his will."

"Do you really think that would stop them?"

Hammond paused. "No."

"So, it's going to be up to us to protect him."

"Unfortunately, we can't do that twenty-four hours a day. As long as he's on the base, he'll be safe, but he can't live here day and night."

"Yeah."

"I'll do whatever I can to protect him, Jack."

"I know you will, sir."

Jack left the briefing room with a whole new set of worries to add to his collection.

* * *

_A shapeless black form came rushing forward, tendrils like an octopus's arms reaching for him. A miniature sun blazed between them, and a high-pitched scream pierced through his ears. . . . _

Daniel awoke with a gasp. Heart pounding, he looked around and realized that he was in the infirmary. For several seconds, he couldn't remember why he was there, then the memories came back to him. At that moment, Janet noticed he was awake.

"Hello there. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Okay. I'm little tired. How long have I been here?"

"Not quite two hours. Frankly, I was expecting you to sleep a whole lot longer than this. Do you remember what happened?"

Daniel nodded. "Is everyone else all right?"

"Yes, everyone's fine, though the whole mountain was without power for a while."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen."

"Nobody's blaming you. Both Sam and Colonel O'Neill wanted to know when you woke up, so I guess I'd better call them."

A few minutes later, Daniel's teammates arrived at his bedside.

Sam gave him a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm all right, just a bit tired. So, I guess I put the base in kind of an uproar, huh?"

"That you did," Jack confirmed. "You seem to have quite a problem with keeping a low profile."

"Well, I always did have a knack for making waves."

"Speaking of waves, Daniel, did you see what happened?" Sam asked.

"Only partly. I wasn't fully aware of what was going on around me. What exactly did happen?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but some of the data that was recorded when you activated that crystal is incredible. I was just about to request a briefing to discuss my findings."

"I want to be there," Daniel stated.

"Sorry, Daniel, but you're too weak to be walking around yet," Janet told him.

"I don't feel all that bad. Besides, I really need to be there. I'm the one who made that thing work, and, when it comes to the Ancients, I'm the closest thing we've got to an expert."

"He's right," Sam said. "And it's possible that Daniel's memory might be jogged by something revealed in the briefing."

"All right, but you're going to have to schedule it for tomorrow," Janet told them firmly. "That's nonnegotiable. And you, Doctor Jackson, are going to stay right there in that bed until I'm sure you're strong enough to leave it, and, after that, you are going to stay on the base for the night, not go sneaking off behind my back."

"Ooh, she's got you this time, Daniel," Jack said with an amused smile.

The archeologist sighed in resignation. "Well, if I'm going to be stuck in this bed, can I at least have a computer so that I can get back to researching those crystals?"

Janet frowned. "You really should try to get some more sleep."

"I'm not sleepy."

_'One of these days, I'm going to get a patient who always does exactly what I tell them to and doesn't argue with me,'_ Janet told herself. _'Yeah, right, Janet. You just keep right on dreaming.'_ She gave a sigh. "All right, but if I see that you're getting tired, I will revoke your computer privileges."

Daniel was all set to make a retort, but thought better of it. Ticking off your doctor was usually not a wise course of action.

Sam brought Daniel's laptop to him, and he resumed his search. This time, though, he used a different search parameter. A couple of hours later, he stumbled upon something. Following the lead, he soon came upon a site that confirmed what he had begun to suspect. He asked one of the nurses for some paper and a pencil. Once he finished jotting down some notes, he decided to get some rest. He was more tired than he had let on, and he figured that the more sleep he got, the sooner Janet would let him leave the infirmary.

A few hours later, after Janet was satisfied that he was recovered enough to leave her tender loving care, Daniel went to his office and began gathering his findings.

The briefing took place at eight the next morning. In addition to SG-1, Janet was also in attendance.

"How are you feeling, Doctor Jackson?" Hammond asked.

"Good, sir. I've recovered from whatever it was that happened to me yesterday."

"That's good to hear. I understand you have something to add to this briefing."

"Yes. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a copy of my report ahead of time. I only just finished it this morning."

Hammond gave him a kindly smile. "That's all right, Son. I can be surprised along with everyone else."

Sam presented her findings first. "I didn't have the right kind of sensors set up in the room, so, unfortunately, I couldn't record everything that happened in there, but in analyzing the data I did gather, I found some rather startling things. When Daniel activated the crystal, it generated an intense field of energy. We know that the crystal took power from the local power plant. It did not take it through the base's wiring. It absorbed the power directly from the plant's generator."

"How did it do that through all the lead and concrete?" Daniel asked.

"That was a puzzle to me as well. But then I recalled something that didn't even cross my mind before. Normally, the room is ventilated by the base's ventilation system. However, there are sensors in place that will seal the ventilation opening if they detect any harmful forms of energy, radiation, bacteria or other hazards. The room is then switched over to a self-contained system. The device must have drawn the energy it needed via the ventilation shaft. The sensors weren't tripped because they didn't detect anything harmful."

"They didn't think that what happened in that room was harmful?" Jack questioned sarcastically.

"The energy being emitted by the crystal wasn't harmful or damaging, sir. As for what we all saw, that was a localized event and not something that the sensors could have detected." Sam turned back to Hammond. "As I was saying, sir, what happened leads me to believe that the crystal has the ability to draw in as much power as it needs from whatever sources are available. It may even be able to absorb energy directly from the atmosphere. I feel that what we experienced yesterday was only a fraction of its potential."

"Potential to do what?" the general asked.

"Well, sir, like I said, I didn't have any sensors set up in the room other than those for detecting energy, radiation and sound waves from the crystal, so I can't be sure of what happened. If we can believe the evidence of our eyes, the crystal caused a spatial distortion, warped the fabric of spacetime. But I have no way of confirming that with the data I gathered. However, I did learn some other things. The crystal generated infrasonic waves. Those are sound waves below the level that our ears can hear."

"If the sound waves were below what we could hear, what was that noise we all heard?" Jack asked. "And what was it that we felt? I thought my bones were vibrating."

"I can answer that one, Jack," Daniel said.

"Of course you can," the colonel responded.

"When you were a teenager, did you ever crank up your stereo speakers high enough that you could feel the vibrations of the base notes?"

"Sure. What teenager hasn't?"

"I didn't, but that's beside the point. You can feel as well as hear the base booms. That's because, in addition to the range of sound waves that you can hear, there are also sound waves being generated that you can't hear. It's those waves that you feel as vibrations."

Sam smiled and nodded. "Daniel is right. The crystal generated sound waves both within and below the range of human hearing. There are all kinds of things that generate infrasonic waves in nature. The call of whales and elephants, for example. Earthquakes, the ocean surf, thunderstorms and many other things, both in nature and manmade, generate sounds below the ability for us to hear. Thankfully, extreme manifestations are infrequent, since, as Janet would tell you, infrasonic waves can be dangerous, lethal, in fact."

"All right, so what's the big deal about the sound waves?" Jack asked.

"There is a cluster of galaxies called the Perseus cluster around two hundred and fifty million light years from Earth," Sam said. "A supermassive black hole was found to exist within the cluster. It was recently discovered that this black hole is generating sound waves fifty-seven octaves lower than middle-C. That's over a million billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing. It's the deepest note ever detected from an object in the universe. When the crystal was activated, it generated sonic waves that were virtually as deep."

"Okay, so that is impressive," Jack said.

"Yes, it is. Thankfully for all of us, the amplitude of the waves being generated by the crystal wasn't nearly as powerful as that which the black hole generates, otherwise, we'd all be dead. If they had been even a little stronger than what they were or if they had last for several minutes instead of only seconds, we would all be experiencing some very unpleasant side effects."

"As it is, there were two people who reported to the infirmary with a variety of mental and emotional symptoms, including a reduction in intellectual acuity and feelings of fatigue, apathy, and depression," Janet reported. "The symptoms faded quickly, however."

"So, is that what happened to Daniel? Those sound waves got to him?" Jack asked.

The doctor shook her head. "No, what I found in Daniel was something else entirely. My best guess is that the crystal quite literally drained the energy from Daniel's body."

"Like the red ones drain the life from people they're used on?"

"Yes and no. Without running some tests to see exactly what happens to someone who is killed by a red crystal, I can only guess that the cause of death is massive organ failure, like what happened to Daniel when he was attacked by Bendrak, only on a greatly accelerated level. How the crystal drains people of their life force is beyond my ability to understand, unless what it is actually doing is completely draining the electrical current that a living body generates. If the electrical impulses created by the brain were lost, death would be instantaneous."

"All right, so why would the Ancients make something that would drain the energy out of the person who uses it?" Jack asked.

"That's where what I learned comes in, Jack," Daniel replied. Everyone's attention turned to him. "Just before I woke up in the infirmary, I had a dream."

"A dream?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, though I'd call it more of a nightmare. I don't know if it was a memory of something that really happened to me while I was ascended or if it was triggered by some knowledge I have hidden in my brain. Regardless, what I saw led me to make a guess about the crystals. I changed the direction of my search for information. Instead of looking for some reference to the crystals, I went looking for references to creatures like Bendrak. Well, I found something, and it confirmed my suspicions."

"What did you find?" Hammond asked.

"As I said back when I first suspected that the Ancients were the original builders of the Stargates, the early Romans spoke of gods they called the Ancient Ones who taught them how to make roads. Not much else is mentioned about these Ancient Ones, but I did find references to a very old legend. It is said that a creature of darkness came to the land. The people called it the Life Eater because it stole the lives of all whom it touched, leaving no wounds or marks on the bodies."

"That sounds familiar," Jack remarked.

Daniel nodded. "According to the legend, one of the Ancient Ones confronted the Life Eater. The Ancient One took on physical form and held within his hand a clear blue stone that glowed like the sun."

"Yep, that also sounds familiar."

"The legend says that the very air around the Life Eater moved like a hundred serpents and enveloped then consumed the creature, making it no more." Daniel looked at everyone. "I think that the crystals were designed as a weapon against Bendrak's species, and I believe that the way they do it is by sucking the creatures right into the crystals, imprisoning them inside."

"What about the red ones?" Jack asked.

"Somehow, the crystals were altered so that they would draw the life energy out of corporeal beings instead."

Sam nodded. "It does sort of make sense. It would basically be the same principle."

"Do you have an explanation for what the crystal did to you?" Hammond asked Daniel.

"Yes, I do. These crystals were designed to be used by the Ancients, and they're incorporeal beings made of energy. It's likely that the crystals need to draw a certain amount of energy from the user. This wouldn't really bother the Ancients, but because I'm human, it was too much for my body to take."

"So, how is it that you were able to use the crystal at all?" Janet asked.

"That I'm not so sure about. I can only guess that the knowledge of how they work is in my subconscious mind, and that was enough to make it function. I should imagine that the designers never took into consideration the possibility that a formerly ascended person would get hold of one and use it." He looked around at everyone. "You do realize what this means, don't you?" Upon seeing their blank stares, he continued. "We don't have to use a Naquadah bomb to kill Bendrak. I can use one of the crystals."

"Daniel, I could not allow that," Janet said. "There is no telling what would happen to you with a longer or more intense exposure. It could kill you."

"In that case, my official decision on you using one of those crystals ever again is 'no way in hell'," Jack stated emphatically.

"I concur," Hammond said. "It's not worth the risk, not when we have a viable alternative." His gaze took in everyone. "I'm afraid that I have some serious news of my own. As we feared, the NID has gotten wind of what occurred yesterday and are extremely interested in the crystals. A representative will be arriving this afternoon."

"Didn't take them long did it," Jack muttered. "They don't know about Daniel, do they?"

"I don't believe so, at least not yet, but, short of lying in our reports, I don't think we're going to be able to completely keep his role in this a secret."

"Hey, it wouldn't be the first time I've lied in a report," Jack said, thinking about the fact that he lied when he stated that Daniel was dead and that he detonated the bomb on Abydos back when they killed Ra.

"That may be so, but, as much as I may wish to keep this hidden, I cannot take part in a fabrication that could result in a court-martial not only for myself but also everyone else involved."

"And I wouldn't want you to," Daniel said. "It's not worth risking all of your careers and the integrity of the Stargate Program. If the program lost all of you, there's no telling who would get control of it."

"We can, however, choose to put in our reports only the information that is absolutely necessary and leave out anything that is based on conjecture," Hammond continued. "For instance, since we don't know this for a fact, there is no need for them to be told that everything that happened with the crystals was likely because Doctor Jackson retains residual knowledge from his time as an Ascended Being and that he is probably the only person who can control the blue crystals."

"Nope, no reason at all, General," Jack agreed smugly.

"Doctor, do you see a need to report your findings on the changes in Daniel's brain?"

"No, sir. In fact, I could consider it to be within the realm of doctor/patient confidentiality," Janet replied. "There's no reason why anyone besides us would need to know about it."

"And, unless they ask, do we really even have to say that it was Daniel who turned on the crystal in the first place and that he was the one who changed the red ones?" Jack asked.

"My report, as it is now, doesn't mention who was holding the crystal during the test," Sam responded. "I can't think of any reason why I should add that information to it."

"How about you, Doctor Jackson? What's your report going to say?" Hammond asked.

"What report, sir? Was I supposed to write one?" Daniel replied with mock innocence. He looked at the report that was in his hands, the one he'd spent hours compiling. "Hmm. I wonder what this is. Ah, I think it's my shopping list."

Jack, Sam and Hammond all smiled in amusement. Teal'c's mouth turned slightly upward.

"I'd better get right on that report, sir, the one that is based only on the information I gathered from the Internet."

"And you, Teal'c?" the General asked.

"Since the crystals are not of Goa'uld design, I have no knowledge to impart regarding them."

Hammond nodded shortly. "I'd say we're all in agreement, then. All right, we have a lot of cleaning up to do before the NID representative arrives. Dismissed."

Daniel was the last to leave the briefing room, besides Hammond. He turned back to the general. "Thank you, sir."

"There's no need to thank me, Doctor Jackson. All of us here are willing to do whatever we can to protect your welfare." Hammond laid a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "We need you here with us, Son, and we're going to make sure this is where you stay."

Daniel gave him a small smile and nodded his head. Then he went to join his teammates. 


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The next few hours were spent covering up what they could of Daniel's involvement in the incident with the crystals. Several other people with knowledge of the events were sworn to secrecy, which wasn't very difficult. No one in the SGC had a fondness for the NID, whereas they all liked or at least respected Daniel.

One of the biggest concerns was that, if the NID took the crystals and opened them up, they'd be able to figure out how they worked. The thought of that kind of power in the hands of the NID made everyone nervous. Hammond placed a call to the president, requesting that control of the crystals be allowed to remain in their hands until it was determined whether or not the crystals posed a serious danger. He added that, unlike the NID, the SGC could conduct off-world experiments with the crystals that would not endanger Earth's populace. Once the general told the president what the crystals might be capable of doing if someone fooled around with them, the president agreed that it would be safest to leave them at the SGC, at least for now.

The NID representative arrived at three o'clock. The second Jack met Colonel Stark, he knew that the man was another Maybourne wannabe.

"Colonel O'Neill," the man said stiffly, wearing that same irritating smirk on his face that Maybourne had.

"Colonel Shark . . . uh, Stark. Sorry. Little slip of the tongue there."

The man glowered at him. "I'd like to see these crystals that your team discovered."

"Not much for pleasantries, are you."

"I'm not here to socialize, Colonel. I came for one purpose, and I see no reason to waste my time with other things."

"I agree. I see no reason to waste my time on you either. So, let's go see those crystals."

Jack took the man to Sam's lab. Colonel Stark looked at the crystals. "So, how do they work?" he asked Sam.

"I have no idea, sir."

The man glared at her. "No idea?"

"None, sir. We attempted to see what is inside the crystals without opening the case, but the material that the case is made from cannot be penetrated by CT scans, and we don't dare try an MRI because of the chance of an adverse reaction due to any metal parts inside the crystals. We've been hesitant to open the crystals, fearing that it might damage them or cause a negative reaction."

"I assume that you've written a report on the tests you've conducted."

"Yes, sir." Sam handed him a copy of the report, which he skimmed through.

"This says that the devices are possibly controlled by the mind of the user."

"Yes, sir."

"So, just handling the crystals isn't dangerous."

"No, sir," Sam told him. "We handled them both on the planet and here on the base without anything happening."

"Yet you witnessed the natives of the planet using the crystals."

"No, sir, we never saw any of the Dicharins using the crystals. They only spoke of using them, and the ones they used were not like these."

"How so?"

"They were red, and they do this nasty little thing when you use them," Jack told him. "They suck the life right out of you like soda pop from a straw."

That thought apparently intrigued Stark. Jack could almost see the man's brain considering the possible weapons applications for the red crystals. The idea turned Jack's stomach.

"And do you have one of these red crystals here?"

"No."

"Well, we're going to want several to study."

"Oh, I don't think so," Jack said nastily. "You see, we have a little policy about not stealing technology from the people of other planets."

"You obtained these crystals. You can get more."

Jack shook his head. "Not gonna happen. The Dicharins need those crystals to keep this really creepy bad guy off their backs. As long as they're on that planet, they have to have those crystals."

Stark stared at him as if he didn't believe a word of what he said.

"Read the report on P7Y-359," Jack told him. "That thing almost killed a member of my team and is responsible for the yearly deaths of hundreds of Dicharins. We're not going to be responsible for the deaths of still more by taking those crystals."

Stark continued to glare at him. "Very well, I will read that report, and if I feel that it is within the best interests of Earth to obtain more crystals for study, you will receive orders to do so."

"Do the words 'not a chance in hell' mean anything to you?"

Ignoring Jack's statement, Stark turned back to Sam. "So, you claim to have no idea how the devices work."

"No, sir. We don't even know yet exactly what they do. The activation of the device was accidental, and I didn't have the proper sensors set up to record everything that occurred. We've really only just begun to study them. It will probably take weeks or even months to learn all we can about them."

"Was the test recorded on video tape?"

"No, sir, it wasn't. As I said before, we were not intending to activate the device. The purpose of the test was simply to obtain readings on the energy the crystals generate."

"Then you have no idea how you managed to activate the device?"

Oops! Sticky question. Jack jumped in before Sam was forced to either lie to the colonel or say something that would reveal the truth.

"Look, Stark. She's already told you that we don't know how the things work. What happened was an accident. It wasn't planned, and, for all we know, we might not be able to get the crystals to work again." Okay, that wasn't quite a lie. They really didn't know for sure if Daniel would be able to do it again.

Stark gave him another glare. "Well, I can see that I'm going to get nowhere with this line of questioning, at least for now. So, you claim that you don't know how they work. Then tell me what you know about who made them. Was it the aliens on the planet where you found them?"

"No," answered Daniel. He had been laying low in the corner of the room, staying quiet and out of the way.

Stark turned to him, his eyes appraising him. "And you are. . . ?"

Daniel rose to his feet and came forward. "Doctor Jackson."

"Ah, yes. The archeologist."

The dismissive tone of Stark's voice instantly incited both Jack's and Sam's anger.

"That _archeologist_ is the one who opened the Stargate, Stark, and he's got more brains than all of you NID people and half of Congress put together," Jack told him. "No, I take that back. _All_ of Congress put together."

Not used to hearing Jack defend him like that, Daniel didn't say anything for a moment. He sent a silent look of thanks to his friend. "As I was saying, the people of the planet Dichar didn't make the crystals. Oh, and they're not aliens. They are completely human, descended from people who were taken from Earth by the Goa'uld thousands of years ago."

"So, who did make the crystals?" Stark asked.

"We have no way of knowing for sure, but my research indicates that it's possible the crystals were made by the Ancients."

"The Ancients. That's the race you encountered on Kheb."

Daniel nodded. "Among other places."

"Yes. That child, the one called . . . a Harcesis, was one of them, right? We could have gained a great deal of knowledge about the Goa'uld from him if you hadn't allowed him to leave when he was here."

"Colonel Stark, if you really did your homework on the Ancients, you'd know that we had no choice in the matter," Daniel told him. "The Ancients and other Ascended are incredibly powerful beings. We've seen them wipe out a troop of Jaffa with lightning, create a tornado of sand, move objects without touching them and generate fire merely by willing it. They appear to possess complete control of the elements. In their natural state they have no physical body, being creatures of energy. How would you have suggested that we keep Shifu from leaving? Lock him up in handcuffs?"

Stark focused his glare on the archeologist. "You were one of them for a year, weren't you?"

"With the help of Oma Desala, I ascended to the same higher plane of existence, but I wasn't an Ancient. The Ancients were an advanced raced of humans who lived on Earth a very long time ago and learned how to ascend."

"And can these Ancients help anyone ascend?" Stark asked in a nasty tone of voice.

"One of the requirements for ascension is an open mind, Colonel Stark, so I'd say that it's not something you can look forward to in your future."

Sam hid her smile. She glanced at the colonel and saw that he wasn't bothering to hide his.

Stark's face darkened in anger. "You should watch your mouth, Doctor Jackson. People with smart mouths tend to get hurt."

Uh oh. Sam saw the look that flashed through Jack's eyes at the thinly veiled threat. He stepped between Daniel and Stark, standing mere inches from the NID man.

"And you should watch out who you're threatening, Stark," he said in a dangerously low voice. "If you've read my file, you know that I spent a fair bit of time in Black Ops." He stared piercingly at the colonel, his eyes as cold as a glacier.

Message received. Colonel Stark backed up a step. To cover his momentary loss of composure, he walked away a few steps, then turned back to face them.

"All right, Doctor Jackson, why do you believe that the crystals are Ancient technology?" he asked.

Daniel handed him a folder. "I did an Internet search and found some references to the crystals and to creatures like what we discovered on Dichar. It's all in my report."

"Very well. I'll read yours and Major Carter's reports and the report on what happened on the planet. I will want to talk to all of you again later."

Stark turned on his heel and left the lab.

"Well, he sure did leave in a hurry," Jack said. "Was it something I said?"

"Actually, I think he might have had go change his shorts," Daniel remarked mildly.

A snort of laughter escaped Sam's mouth. She sobered quickly, however. "So, do you think we'll be able to keep him off the scent?"

"Yeah, I think so," Jack replied. "Guys like him don't have a lot of brains. If it was Maybourne we were dealing with, then I might be a little worried. The guy's a first-class snake, but he's also smart." He looked back and forth between Daniel and Sam. "I hope that you two made your reports as incomprehensible and as full of mumbo jumbo as you could."

"Of course we did, sir," Sam replied.

"I added a five-page-long explanation of how the invention of roadways impacted civilization and how, therefore, the Ancients can be credited with revolutionizing our ways of transportation," Daniel told him.

"Ooh, now I bet that's a real page turner," Jack remarked. He smiled. "I can't wait to see the look on Stark's face when he finds out that he can't take the crystals with him."

Jack and the others got the privilege of seeing that look two hours later.

"I've read all of the reports," Stark told them. "From the data gathered during the test, the devices show a lot of potential as a possible weapon. I will be taking them with me when I leave."

Jack held up a finger. "Ah ah. Not so fast. You're not taking those crystals anywhere."

"I have full authority to take possession of them."

"Well, you might want to talk to the president about that. You see, he agrees that it's safer for us to keep them. He doesn't want a nerd in some lab playing with the things and, oh, maybe swallowing up Nevada in a black hole or something. That really wouldn't help the tourist trade."

Stark's face turned red with anger, and he turned to Hammond, who had just come up to them. "What is the meaning of this, General?" he asked, just barely managing to keep his voice down.

"It's exactly what Colonel O'Neill told you, Colonel Stark. The president agrees with me that, for the present time, it is best to keep the crystals at the SGC. _If_ such a time comes that we determine they do not pose a threat to the Earth's populace, then you may have them. Until then, we will keep the NID informed of our findings. Now, I believe that there is a military transport leaving in an hour. You'd better hurry if you're going to make it."

Looking like steam was just about to start shooting out of his ears, Stark spun around and stormed out of the room.

"Sweet," Jack murmured with a smug expression. "That made my whole day."

"Now that that problem's been taken care of, it's time to turn our attention back to the situation on Dichar," Hammond said. "You have a green light to relocate the population to another planet, and the president has agreed to the use of a Naquadah bomb to destroy Bendrak."

Everyone was happy to hear the news. SG-1 made plans to return to Dichar in the morning. While they were there, Hammond would be arranging for a disassembled Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter to be delivered to the base. Able to carry sixteen tons of supplies, cargo, vehicles, artillery and troops for a distance of five hundred nautical miles and with the capacity for heavy-lift operations, the huge chopper would not only serve as a means to quickly transport the Dicharins to the Stargate, it would also aid in clearing trees from the landing pads that would have to be made at each village.

As for locating a suitable new home for the Dicharins, two possibilities had already been found. A UAV was going to be sent to the first one within a couple of hours since it was now morning on the planet. Another UAV would be launched through the gate to the second world tomorrow.

Pleased with the events of the day, all the members of SG-1 decided to go out to eat.

"Did you see the look on Stark's face when Hammond pretty much told him to take a hike?" Jack asked, grinning.

"Colonel Stark did, indeed, not look pleased," Teal'c replied.

"If he'd stuck his head in a bucket of water, he'd have generated steam." Jack sat back in his chair. "Yep, it's days like these that really make me happy I'm where I am."

"And we're going to be able to help the . . . natives relocate to a new home," Daniel said, catching himself before he said the word Dicharins.

"Yeah. I'll give you the honor of telling Gennae, Daniel. I'll also put you in charge of contacting the other villages. The people of Gennae's village really took a liking to you."

After an enjoyable dinner, Daniel and Sam said good night to Jack and Teal'c and went home. Jack took the Jaffa back to the base.

"May I speak freely, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"Sure, Teal'c. What's on your mind?"

"I have noticed a great difference in your behavior toward Daniel Jackson since his recent death and return to life. Such a difference was not so evident after he descended, though it is true that your behavior toward him did improve from what it was before he left."

"And you're wondering why there's such a big change this time."

"Yes."

Jack thought about his answer for a while. "Because I finally realized that I needed to stop acting like an ass and really be a friend to him. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the attitude I showed toward Daniel way too many times is one of the biggest. I let my pride and stubbornness nearly destroy our friendship. This whole thing really woke me up and made me see that I needed to change. I'm not saying that there won't be any more rough spots, but I'm going to do my best to show Daniel that I respect the kind of man that he is and that I. . . ."

"Love him as a brother," Teal'c stated softly.

"Yeah."

The two men were silent the rest of the way to the base, each of them thinking about regrets and that, sometimes, you got lucky enough to get the chance to make things right.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

SG-1 traveled down the path toward the village. As they drew close to it, they heard what sounded like cries of pain. Hurrying their pace, they rounded the final bend and came to a dead stop. The village was in shambles. Many of the huts had been toppled, their walls and roofs broken and scattered about. Dozens of injured villagers were huddled on the ground, several of them moaning and crying. The frightened cries of children could be heard. Stunned by the destruction, SG-1 entered the village.

"Sir, these people need medical attention," Sam said, horrified by what had happened.

"Get back to the gate and dial home," Jack ordered. "Have Janet send a medical team through."

The rest of SG-1 continued through the village, giving aid where they could. Most of the Dicharins appeared to be in shock, both the injured and uninjured.

After they'd been there for a while, Daniel found Gennae. The old man's face was lined with grief.

"Gennae! What happened?" Daniel asked, running up to him.

"Oh, Daniel. He came so suddenly. We thought that he slept."

"Bendrak did this?"

"Yes. He came seeking you."

Shocked, Daniel stared at him. "Me?"

"He demanded to know where the one who returned the . . . the abikar to its original form was. We did not understand what he meant, and he got angry. He made a fierce wind blow and destroyed our homes. Then he told us the meaning of his words, asking who made a crystal turn blue and glow white. I told him that the one who did it was a visitor who came through the enkali from another world and that the person was now gone. I did not tell him that you were returning, Daniel. You must leave. You are in great danger if you stay."

"Gennae, I'm so sorry this happened. This is my fault."

The chieftain shook his head. "The fault is not yours. I said that it would be safe for you to come. We thought it was safe."

Daniel swallowed tightly. "Gennae, did . . . did Bendrak take anyone's life power?"

"No. He spared us that, but if he learns that you have returned, he will kill you for sure. We do not wish you to be harmed, Daniel."

"Then I will leave. As soon as we attend to your injured, I will go and not come back. I wouldn't want any of your people put in danger if Bendrak comes after me."

Daniel turned and went back to Jack and Teal'c, motioning for them to follow him. A few yards down the path toward the Stargate, they met up with Sam, who was coming back with a medical team and SG-3. The medical team continued toward the village, and Jack told SG-3 to go with them.

"Did you find out what happened?" Sam asked.

"It was Bendrak," Daniel replied. "He apparently woke up and knew that someone had changed one of the crystals."

"How?" Jack asked.

Daniel thought about it for a second. "Sam, when I touched the blue crystal, you said that it gave off infrasonic waves, right?"

"Yes."

"Then that must be it. Bendrak must have sensed the sonic waves, and they woke him up. Either that or he sensed the energy that the crystal gave off when I changed it."

"But that was three days ago," Jack said. "The attack on the village happened only a few hours ago."

"Well, if Bendrak was in some kind of hibernation or stasis, it might have taken him a while to come out of it. The point is that this happened because of what I did. I'm responsible for it. And, now, Bendrak is awake. We won't be able to take the Dicharins to another planet."

"Daniel, this wasn't your fault," Jack told him. "You didn't deliberately change that crystal, and you had no way of knowing what would happen."

"And it is possible that Bendrak will go back to sleep," Sam reasoned.

Daniel shook his head. "There will be no way for us to know that for sure. We can't make that assumption and start evacuating these people only to find out that we were wrong."

Everyone knew that he was right.

"Then we'll have to come back next year," Jack said regretfully. "The thought of two hundred more people dying to feed that thing sickens me, but it's the best that we can do."

Daniel walked away a few paces, his arms wrapped around himself, shoulders hunched forward.

Jack let out a curse. "This really stinks, you know that?"

"Yes, it does, sir," Sam agreed in a heavy voice.

"All right. Let's get back to the village and help as much as we can. Carter, you and Teal'c go on ahead. Daniel and I will catch up." As the others left, Jack walked up to the archeologist. "Daniel, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," the archeologist murmured.

"I know, but I'm still sorry. I like these people, too."

Daniel looked off in the direction of the temple. "They don't deserve this, Jack."

"No, they don't. Not many would. We will help them, Daniel. We'll come back next year and take them out of here, then blow Bendrak to hell."

"And, in the meantime, two hundred more innocent people will be sacrificed."

Jack did not reply. There was really nothing he could say.

Daniel gave a sigh. "You go on ahead, Jack. I'll be along in a few minutes."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Jack gave his shoulder a squeeze, then head on down the path. Daniel watched him leave.

"I'm sorry, Jack. I hope you can forgive me someday," he whispered. Then he turned and walked away in the opposite direction, knowing what he had to do.

* * *

Jack, Sam, Teal'c and SG-3 helped clear away the wreckage as Janet's team treated the injured. Thankfully, there were no injuries more serious than broken bones, none of which were bad enough to require surgery. They'd gotten lucky. If the huts had been made of heavier materials or if any very young children had been caught in a collapse, there would likely have been fatalities.

"Sir, where's Daniel?" Sam asked when she realized that she hadn't seen the archeologist around.

Jack glanced about. "I don't know." He spied Gennae and called to him. The man came over. "Have you seen Daniel?"

"No. Did he not go home to your world? I told him that Bendrak would kill him if he was discovered here."

Jack got a sinking feeling in his gut. "Well, he failed to mention that little fact to us. Carter, Teal'c, let's go. Daniel might be in trouble."

They hurried toward the gate, seeing no sign of the archeologist on the way.

"Maybe he did go home, sir," Sam suggested, knowing, even as she said it, that such was not the case.

Jack shook his head. "He wouldn't do that. Even if his life was threatened, he wouldn't leave here until he was sure the Dicharins were all right." A horrible thought came to him. "Unless. . . ." Jack doubled his pace. "Dammit! I should have known he'd do something like this."

"What? What are you saying?" Sam asked, almost running to keep up with him.

"He's gone and gotten one of those blue crystals and plans on going after Bendrak!"

Suddenly terrified, Sam took off in a full run, Jack and Teal'c only a second behind her.

The three members of SG-1 were only about half a mile from the temple when they caught sight of Daniel. He was carrying what looked like one of the containers used for transporting hazardous material. Apparently having heard their approach, he turned around. He then continued walking, increasing his pace. His teammates soon caught up with him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jack yelled, out of breath from the mad dash to get there. He grabbed Daniel's shoulder, stopping his forward progress.

"I'm fixing the problem," Daniel replied shortly. "I'm going to stop Bendrak once and for all."

"Daniel, you can't," Sam said. "You heard what Janet said. If you use that crystal again it might kill you."

"I have no choice, Sam. I have to do this."

"No! You don't _have_ to do anything!" Jack told him. "And I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go off and get yourself killed!"

"And what's the alternative, Jack?" Daniel asked angrily, glaring at him. "Let two hundred more people die? You can't stand there and tell me that my life is worth more than two hundred of theirs!"

The others fell silent.

"If it was you in my place, you would do the same thing," Daniel said, his voice now just a murmur.

Jack closed his eyes, knowing that Daniel was right. He could not weigh Daniel's life against the lives of two hundred Dicharins and have it come out in his friend's favor. If he was the one being put in this position, he would know what he had to do.

"Sometimes, I really hate it when you're right," he said, his voice carrying a wealth of emotion.

"Yeah, well, there are times when I really wish I wasn't right either," Daniel told him.

Jack gave an almost inaudible sigh. "I, um, guess we'd better get going, then."

Daniel shook his head. "There is no reason for you to come. You'd be putting yourselves in unnecessary danger."

"Daniel, we're not letting you go alone," Sam said firmly.

"If you must face Bendrak, then we will be at your side," Teal'c stated.

Daniel looked at his teammates, knowing that they would not let him do this alone. He gave a short nod, then turned and continued toward the temple.

All too soon, they were there. Daniel had been feeling Bendrak's presence for quite a while, but, this time, knowing what was causing his feelings of unease, he didn't let it bother him.

The members of SG-1 stood outside the temple, looking for some sign of Bendrak. They'd been there for perhaps three or four minutes when something darker than the shadows became visible in the doorway. It floated toward them about five feet, then stopped, taking on a vaguely human shape.

_'Who dares disturb me?'_ said a voice in their minds. _'Wait. I know you. You were here before.'_ A hand-like shape pointed at Daniel. _'You. I killed you. You are dead.' _

"Well, now, you see, that's the thing about Daniel," Jack said. "He's a really hard man to kill. Um, no, on second thought, that's not exactly true. You can kill him. He just has this odd habit of not staying dead." He turned to Daniel. "So, how many times is it that you've died, Daniel? Five?"

"Actually, it's six if you count the cardiac arrest when I was in Ma'chello's body," Daniel replied.

Jack turned back to Bendrak. "There. You see? He's like that Wile E. Coyote guy. No matter how many times he gets squashed, blown up, falls over a cliff, or whatever, there he is, back in the next scene, good as new."

_'Silence!'_ Bendrak shouted in their minds. Everyone winced in discomfort.

"Ow. Keep down the volume, will ya, Benny?" Jack asked.

_'You will all pay for your insolence.' _

Jack glanced at his teammates. "The guy doesn't look like a Goa'uld, but he sure does sound like one. Do all these bad guys take the same class or something? How to be an Insufferably Arrogant Jerk 101?"

With a mental snarl, Bendrak began moving toward them. Daniel quickly opened the container he was carrying and pulled out the crystal. Bendrak instantly halted.

_'You. You are the one who changed the abikar?' _

"Yes," Daniel replied simply.

_'That is not possible. No human has the ability.' _

"Not even a human who was once ascended?" Daniel said in a very quiet voice.

There was a moment of complete silence. Then Bendrak roared in fury. He rushed toward the archeologist. Daniel immediately lifted the crystal and aimed it at the creature, willing it to do the thing for which it had been designed.

Light blazed forth from the crystal. Seconds later, the atmosphere all around them appeared to ripple and move. The deep thrumming sound came again, pounding and vibrating through their bodies. Then all hell broke loose. With another roar from Bendrak, a wild wind began shrieking through the clearing and forest with gale force, ripping branches and leaves off the trees and flinging them about. Jack, Sam and Teal'c went to their knees, trying to keep their balance and protecting their heads and faces as much as possible. Daniel stood like a statue in the eye of the storm, his body alight with the brilliance from the crystal, not a single piece of debris coming near him.

Suddenly, the air around Bendrak came alive, twisting and bending grotesquely. Bendrak let out an inhumanly high-pitched scream and began to writhe in pain, his form warping out of shape. Then, with a final wail, he seemed to collapse in on himself. The crystal sucked him in, flaring like the sun. The light snuffed out, and everything went dead silent.

Uncovering their heads, Jack, Sam and Teal'c watched in horror as Daniel crumpled limply to the ground. They scrambled toward him. Jack's fumbling fingers felt for a pulse and found none.

"No! Dammit, Daniel! Don't you do this to us again! You hear me? You are not going to do this!" Jack yelled. "Teal'c! Get a medic!" He did not spare a glance for the Jaffa, who took off at a dead run for the village.

Working with frantic haste, Jack and Sam laid Daniel's body out straight and began CPR, Jack doing the chest compressions as Sam breathed into Daniel's lungs.

The seconds and then minutes dragged by as Jack and Sam fought to restore life to Daniel. They refused to give up, refused to accept that he was gone. Sam had started crying, silent tears coursing down her face, the lips she pressed to Daniel's wet with them. As time went on, Jack's breathing became labored, exhaustion making his arms shake. They both knew that they had passed the point where there was no use in continuing, but, still, they would not stop.

Finally, though, Jack's arms fell to his sides. "Sam," he murmured.

"No!" she said fiercely. She began doing the compressions herself.

Jack took hold of her shoulder. "Sam. Stop."

"No!" she screamed, batting away his hand. She began stroking Daniel's hair and face. "Daniel, please don't go. Please."

Jack turned away, his body slumping in defeat, not even bothering to hide his tears.

And that's when they got a miracle yet again.

A single gasping breath filled Daniel's lungs. Jack's head snapped around, and he stared at his friend, watching as a second, softer breath expanded the archeologist's chest, then a third and a fourth. Both Jack and Sam began to laugh with joy. Their laughter stilled as they saw their friends's eyelids flutter and open.

Daniel gazed up into the sky in confusion, then his eyes fell upon Jack and Sam, seeing the wetness on their faces.

"I guess it's seven times now, huh," he whispered weakly.

Jack laughed and smiled down at him, laying a hand on his best friend's cheek. "Yeah, Danny. And we would all really appreciate it if you'd hold off on number eight for another fifty, sixty years or so."

Daniel smiled faintly. "I'll do my best." His eyes then fluttered closed, and he slipped into unconsciousness. 


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The sounds around him and the all too familiar feeling of the bed were the first things that told Daniel he was yet again in the infirmary. Next came the things his body was telling him. He was a little tired, but that was nothing compared to how much his chest hurt. It felt as if an elephant had been tap dancing on it.

_'I have really got to stop doing this,'_ he told himself. Then he opened his eyes.

"Ah, sleeping beauty awakens at last," said a voice off to his left. Daniel turned to see Jack sitting in a chair, a newspaper in his hands. The colonel put down the paper and leaned forward. "How ya feelin'?"

"All right. Where are Sam and Teal'c?"

"Teal'c's off Kel'no'reeming, or whatever it is he does now that he doesn't have Junior, and I hope that Carter's still sleeping. She sat with you pretty much all day and the better part of the night. I finally had to order her to go get some sleep."

Daniel frowned. "How long have I been here?"

"You've slept for nearly twenty hours, Daniel," answered Janet, who came up to the bed.

Daniel's eyebrows rose. "Twenty hours?"

"Uh huh, and you needed every one of them. Your body was already suffering from your first exposure to that crystal. What happened yesterday completely drained what was left of your energy."

Daniel looked back and forth between the two people at his bedside. A vague memory came back to him. "I died again, didn't I." The expressions on their faces told him the answer. "How long this time?"

"Not quite as long as last time," Janet replied. "The colonel and Sam's best guess is around fifteen minutes, maybe a little less."

"We did CPR, but it didn't help," Jack said in a low voice.

"Oh. CPR. I guess that explains it," Daniel muttered.

"Explains what?"

"Um, my chest is a little sore."

The doctor smiled. "Considering that the colonel and Sam were doing CPR almost the entire time you were in arrest, I'd guess that it's more than a _little_ sore. Am I right?"

Daniel was silent for a long moment. "Yeah, I guess."

"Uh huh. That's what I thought. I'll fix you up with some pain meds."

"So, I just came back to life on my own again?" Daniel asked a few minutes later after the medication had been administered.

"It would seem so," Janet answered. "And, like before, there is no sign of damage to your brain caused by the extended loss of blood flow to it, which goes against everything we've come to know about the human brain. You are a bonafide medical miracle twice over, Doctor Jackson."

"Ah, just what I always aspired to be."

Jack got to his feet. "Well, I'd better call Carter. She made me swear to call her when you woke up. If I don't, I might find myself in the next bed over."

About ten minutes later, Sam came hurrying into the infirmary. Teal'c, whom Jack had also called, appeared in the doorway behind her. Sam smiled brightly when she saw Daniel looking at her. She came up to his bed and took his hand.

"Daniel. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Sam. Hey, Teal'c."

"It is good to see you well, Daniel Jackson," the Jaffa said.

"How much do you remember about what happened?" Sam asked.

"Pretty much all of it, I think," Daniel replied. "Is Bendrak gone?"

"Yeah, there's no sign of him," Jack said. "You got him, Daniel."

"Where's the crystal?"

"We had Gennae put it in that Vault of Life of theirs for safe keeping."

"We're not sure what to do with it," Sam told Daniel. "We don't know what would happen if it broke open."

"I need to destroy it."

"Do you know how?"

Daniel nodded. "I remember it all now, about what Bendrak is and what the crystals are."

"I assume you're going to share your knowledge with the rest of the class," Jack said.

"Jack, when was I ever reticent about sharing knowledge?"

"Good point."

"But Hammond should hear this, too."

"We'll schedule a briefing as soon as the doc here lets you go free."

"Which will be when I decide he's strong enough and not a second sooner," Janet responded.

Janet allowed him out of the infirmary that afternoon, again ordering Daniel to stay on the base overnight. They had the briefing at three o'clock. Like before, Janet was there, only, this time, at Daniel's request.

"All right, I'll start off by saying that the dream I told you about was of something that really happened," Daniel began.

"What was the dream?" Sam asked.

"I dreamt about being attacked by a creature like Bendrak. Yesterday wasn't the first time I've confronted one of those things. It happened once while I was ascended. I defeated it just like I did Bendrak, with an abikar. That's why I recognized those crystals and knew how to use them."

"So, you don't have any Ancient knowledge in your head?" Jack asked.

"I don't know. It's still possible that I might, but it wasn't any knowledge of their technology that enabled me to use the abikar. I was simply remembering how I did it before. Using the abikars is one thing that the Ancients did teach me."

"Actually, this is good news," Sam said. "If the NID does learn that it was Daniel who controlled the crystals, we won't have to worry so much about them thinking that he's a source for information on Ancient technology."

"Yeah, well, I'd still prefer that they didn't know the truth," Jack stated.

"Please continue, Doctor Jackson," Hammond said.

"When Oma taught me how to use the abikars, she also told me all about Bendrak's species. He belongs to a race called Gorrums. In a way, they are like the Ancients, but they were never humanoid. The Ancients don't know whether the Gorrums evolved naturally into what they are now or if they found a way to accelerate the process. The Ancients first encountered them on the Gorrums' home planet several hundred years ago. They quickly learned that the Gorrums had the ability to kill them."

"Gorrums can kill Ancients?" Sam asked.

Daniel nodded. "The same way that they kill humans and other corporeal lifeforms, though it is much more difficult to kill an Ancient that way, and the Ancients have the power to fight back. Once the Ancients realized that the Gorrums were a threat to them, they got to work on a weapon against them, just in case they needed it."

"The abikars."

"Yes. I hate to tell you this, Sam, but you were wrong about what the abikars do, though I can understand why you thought what you did."

"So, what do they do?" she asked.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't give you a long, technical explanation since that isn't my field of expertise."

"Thank God," Jack muttered.

Amused, Sam glanced at the colonel, then returned her attention to Daniel, who continued his explanation.

"The abikars are actually an extension of the Ancients' ability to control the element of air. They can move air molecules around and can change the atmospheric pressure in any given space, increasing or decreasing it as needed, even compressing it like the air inside a can of compressed air used for cleaning electronic equipment."

"Wow. That's amazing," Sam said. "If there was a way to harness and adapt that power, it could be used for all kinds of applications, including controlling the weather."

Daniel nodded. "It all connects to what we've seen the Ancients do, except that the abikars can affect atmospheric pressure and air molecules to a higher degree than an Ancient alone can."

"How come the wall in the test room started doing all that weird stuff?" Jack asked.

"It didn't. The wall was never affected. It was just an optical illusion caused by the distortion of light. It's like the way that heat waves will make things look as if they're wavering and rippling. The rising hot air has a lower pressure and causes the light to be distorted as it passes through it. The abikar was altering the air pressure so that you had both higher and lower pressure areas."

"Which caused the refraction of light waves to vary," Sam finished, nodding her head. "That, in turn, caused the rippling effect we all saw. It makes perfect sense. I'm surprised I didn't think of this before." She smiled. "I guess I'm so used to things like time warps, wormhole physics and other higher concepts that the simpler answers tend not to occur to me."

Daniel smiled, too. "Well, sometimes, you just have to get back to basics." His smile faded. "Controlling air molecules is one of the abikar's primary functions, but it also has the capacity to extract energy from just about any source, _except_ from living corporeal beings. The Ancients deliberately put safeguards on them to prevent them from accidentally withdrawing energy from living creatures that happened to be in the area."

"But did not the abikar draw energy from you?" Teal'c asked.

"Yeah, it did. You see, the Ancients also designed the abikars not to take energy from their own kind, with the exception of the one who was controlling the abikar. It taps into the energy of its controller and uses part of that energy. But, like I suggested before, the Ancients never anticipated that a descended human would try to use one. The abikar tapped into the energy within my body just like it would have if I was ascended, the difference being that a human body does not contain the amount of energy that is within an ascended being."

"So, it pretty much sucked you dry," Jack said.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"So, what exactly does an abikar do to a Gorrum?" Sam asked.

"First, it stuns the Gorrum using infrasonic waves, which the Gorrums are very susceptible to if they are at a low enough frequency. Actually, 'stuns' isn't the right word. As we already know, Gorrums can alter their density and can change from incorporeal to corporeal. Extremely low frequency infrasonic waves force the Gorrums into a semi-corporeal state, increasing their density, which is necessary for what the abikar does next."

"Which is?" Jack inquired.

"It increases the air pressure to a point where the Gorrum is immobilized, unable to escape. Lastly, the abikar draws the Gorrum right into the crystal and imprisons it there."

"So, that thing really is still alive and in that crystal?" Jack asked, not at all happy about the news.

Daniel nodded.

"Okay, so how do you kill it?"

"The crystal has to be destroyed, disintegrated."

"The vortex from a wormhole?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, that would probably do it, though, to be on the safe side, we should take the crystal to one of those nice planets that wouldn't win any awards as a vacation spot and do it there."

"Well, out of my own personal favorites, I'd say that planet where we found the orb with the very hungry alien organism inside it would work out great," Jack remarked. "Nice, lunar-like landscape, terrific sub, sub, sub zero temperatures, and no air pollution to speak of . . . no air to speak of at all, in fact. Yep, ol' Benny would love it there."

Sam turned to her best friend. "Daniel, if the Ancients can kill the Gorrums, why would they have imprisoned Bendrak on Dichar instead of destroying him?"

"They didn't. I was wrong about that. I believe that either Bendrak was hiding there or that he got stranded there. I'd actually heard about him. He was being pursued by the Ancients. He stole something from them, but I never heard what it was. They lost track of him and never found him. He's probably been on Dichar the whole time."

"Why would he pick an uninhabited planet to hide out on?" Jack asked.

"Well, if it was by choice, my best guess would be that it's because he figured that he'd be safe there. The Gorrums both hate and fear the Ancients. The Ancients are the only beings who can easily kill them. Since there were no intelligent lifeforms on Dichar, the Ancients would have little reason to go there, so Bendrak could hide in peace. Obviously, he didn't anticipate that an Ancient would bring humans through the gate to populate the planet." Daniel's expression grew thoughtful. "And I think I also just figured out why he didn't want any of the Dicharins to go through the gate. He'd have been afraid that the Ancients would find out about him from one of them."

Daniel shifted in his chair slightly. His chest was still sore, though not nearly as bad as it could be considering the severity of the bruise that now adorned the skin over his breastbone. "Anyway, Bendrak must have wandered across the planet for centuries, feeding off the animal life to sustain himself. Eventually, he made his way to where the Dicharins are. By that time, he was probably pretty ticked off by the whole situation. He tore into the population, wiping out hundreds. Afterwards, he cooled down, and we know what's been going on since then."

"So, where did these Gorrums come from?" Jack asked.

"I don't know where their homeworld is. The only thing I know about their planet of origin is that it generates a very unusual energy field, which the Gorrums use for food. The energy is quite similar to that which a living body generates. Without that energy to feed them, the Gorrums can't survive more than three hundred Earth days, which is roughly the length of a Dicharin year. They were unable to synthesize the energy they feed upon and never figured out a way to gather and store it. So, since the Gorrums don't have faster than light interstellar travel, they were confined to their native solar system. Unfortunately, all that changed after they met the Ancients."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Somewhere along the way, the Gorrums got hold of a whole bunch of abikars and figured out how to alter them to suit their needs. They originally planned on using the abikars to absorb and store the energy from their planet, turning them into something like our MREs, portable food containers. This would allow them to leave their solar system. But there was a problem. They soon discovered that they couldn't reproduce the technology and build their own abikars, so the only ones they had were the ones they'd stolen. Well, that wasn't going to work out for them since the number of abikars they had was only sufficient to store enough energy for a handful of Gorrums to make it to the closest inhabited planet and back again, which wasn't much of an improvement on their present situation. So, they came up with another idea. They removed the safeguards that prevents an abikar from drawing energy from a living corporeal creature and disabled most of the other functions."

"So they could then replenish their supply of energy simply by stopping at a world that contained corporeal lifeforms," Janet said.

"Yeah. The Gorrums don't have very high moral principles, so they'd take the energy from both animals and species of higher intelligence without even a twinge of conscience. Some of them, in fact, have a special taste for higher forms of life."

"Like humans."

"Yeah. I'd guess that Bendrak is one of those. On an aside, I'm guessing that he managed to do some additional alterations to the abikars so that they could be controlled by the Dicharins. Normally, that wouldn't have been possible."

"So, did the Ancients do anything about this?" Jack asked. "After all, the Gorrums wouldn't have been able to leave their planet if it wasn't for them."

"Yes, they did. When the Ancients found out, they decided that they needed to stop what was happening. First of all, they took back all of the abikars that were still on the Gorrum homeworld. Then they began hunting down the Gorrums who had already gone off-world. Now, if things had continued this way, the situation would probably have been solved pretty quickly since, even with the abikars, the Gorrums were very limited on where they could go."

"Because they had to stick to traveling to planets that had lifeforms that could be used for food and that were within reaching distance," Sam said.

"Yeah. The problem is that the Gorrums discovered the Stargate network. With the Stargates, they could travel to thousands of occupied worlds and feed to their heart's content. They no longer needed their ships. However, they kept their abikars just to be safe."

"What's going to happen if these Gorrums ever make their own energy collectors and develop faster-than-light ships?" Jack asked. "We'll end up having bad guys out there who are even more dangerous than the Goa'uld."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think that's going to be a problem. The Gorrums are becoming extinct. The energy fields on their planet that they feed off of are failing. Within a few decades, the Gorrums will be gone. I know that the Gorrum I killed when I was an Ancient was one of the last ones who were still free."

"No great loss there." Jack looked at Daniel. "So, is that it?"

"In regards to the Gorrums and the abikars."

"So, what's the next topic?"

"Me."

"You?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Personally, I think it's a fascinating topic for discussion, but what precise thing about you are we going to be discussing?"

"The reason why I'm not dead."

"Oh."

Daniel looked around at the others. "Everyone here knows about what Janet discovered in those scans she did of my brain, the increased dendrite connections and glial cells. Mind you, this is all conjecture, but I think that has a direct connection to the reason why I'm not dead."

"How so?" Janet asked.

"Well, as I'm pretty sure we all know, many people firmly believe that human beings tap into only a small fraction of the full potential of the human mind. Like Janet said, our brains possess the capacity to grow as many as one million billion dendrite connections, yet, as far as we know, no human has ever had more than a fraction of that many. That means that there is a huge, untapped wellspring of mental abilities sitting right there in every one of our brains. And I'm not just talking about increased intelligence and memory."

"Okay, what are you talking about, then?" Jack asked. "Stuff like what Carrie did to get even at the prom?"

"If you're talking about paranormal abilities, then, yes, Jack, that is one of the things I'm talking about. Is it really so hard for you to believe that humans have the capacity to move things with their minds, or speak telepathically, or light fires through willpower alone, or even predict future events? We've met alien races that can do many of those things, so why not us? What rule is there that says we can't do those things, too?"

"Maybe because no one ever has."

"Ah, but you're wrong there, Jack. There are clearly documented cases of people exhibiting powers of telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition, psychometry and a number of other psychic abilities. You cannot discount all of them as tricks."

"Daniel Jackson is correct," Teal'c said. "On Chulak, there is occasionally born the rare individual who shows abilities that are beyond what is normal. For instance, those who can see events that are taking place far away. Unfortunately, most of these Jaffa are quickly killed by the Goa'uld since they pose a threat."

Daniel nodded at Teal'c in thanks. "I really think that the only reason why most humans don't have these abilities is that they are unable to consciously tap into the right areas of their brain. Have any of you ever had a feeling, for seemingly no reason at all, that something was wrong, and your feeling turned out to be correct?"

"Of course. That happens lots of times with military people while on missions or on the battlefield. It's just instincts," Jack replied.

"Just instincts? You somehow know without a doubt that there's danger right around the corner, or in the next room, or whatever even though there is no logical or physical evidence to support that feeling. Tell me, Jack. How is that not proof of paranormal abilities?"

The colonel didn't reply.

Daniel looked down at the table. "One night when I was a child, I had a nightmare," he said in a low voice. "Though I couldn't remember the dream after I woke up, it terrified me and left me with a sense of dread. I told my mom and dad that I wanted us to all stay home where it was safe. They didn't listen to me." He looked up at everyone. "Later that day, they were crushed beneath an ancient Egyptian coverstone."

The room was utterly silent. Sam's hand slid across the table and gave his hand a brief, comforting squeeze.

Daniel cleared his throat. "I think that all of us have at least some small measure of psychic abilities. It's just that a rare few of us are able to connect to that part of the brain more fully."

"Daniel, I do agree with you that there is evidence to support the existence of paranormal abilities in human beings, but what does this have to do with the fact that you managed to come back to life, not once but twice?" Sam asked.

"It has to do with another thing that many people don't believe in but that there is plenty of evidence to support, and that's our ability to consciously control the biological processes of our bodies. Eastern Yogis and Tibetan monks have exhibited phenomenal control over their autonomic nervous system. They can do things like slow their heart rate at will or raise the temperatures in their bodies to the point where they can sit out in freezing weather with no clothes on and even dry wet towels on their backs. People who use biofeedback can control their heart rates and blood pressure, speed healing, reduce pain, and so many other things. It is accepted by many in the medical community that the human race has an enormous, untapped capacity for self-healing."

"Daniel, are you saying that the explanation for what happened is that you've somehow tapped into a natural healing ability of your body?" Janet asked.

"I don't know. It may not be that simple. There could be some other factor involved as well. But the only other answer I can come up with is that some external force is responsible. If it had only happened the one time, I could more readily believe that, but twice? I don't think the answer is that my guardian angel is watching over me."

"Daniel, if you've got a guardian angel, she's doing a lousy job of keeping you out of trouble," Jack remarked. "They're supposed to help _prevent_ you from getting killed, not bring you back to life after you do."

"Daniel, is there any chance at all that Oma Desala had something to do with it?" Sam asked.

The archeologist shook his head. "For what purpose? If she was that eager to keep me alive, she'd have healed me of the radiation poisoning instead of encouraging me to ascend. And if Oma was there when I confronted Bendrak, she'd have taken care of him herself instead of letting me do it when she'd have known that it would probably kill me." Daniel glanced about at everyone and saw varying degrees of acceptance and doubt on their faces. "Look, I'm not saying that this is the answer. I'm just saying that it's something we can't discount."

General Hammond nodded. "Very well, Doctor Jackson. You've given us all a lot to think about. As Doctor Fraiser recommended, I'm putting SG-1 on stand-down for two days to give you a chance to fully recover from your ordeal. Dismissed."

As they walked out of the briefing room, Jack stepped up beside Daniel. "Come on, Wile E. Jackson. Let's see what kinds of trouble we can keep you _out_ of for the next two days. If you do have a guardian angel, she could probably use a break."

"If I have a guardian angel, _his_ name is Jack O'Neill," the archeologist said with a soft smile.

Jack looked at his friend in surprise. Then his expression changed. "Daniel, so help me, if you start calling me Angel, I'll brain you."

"Jack, you may be my self-appointed guardian angel, but an angel you're not."

Jack stopped walking for a moment. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" he called after the departing archeologist. Then he shook his head, smiled faintly, and hurried to catch up to his best friend.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"Hi, Sam," Daniel said as he came into her lab.

"Hey, Daniel. Feeling better?"

"Uh huh. As Jack would say, my batteries are recharging nicely." He looked at the abikar that was sitting on the table. "So, what are you up to?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to open this thing. It appears to be completely seamless, and there are no protrusions or indentations to push. I've been at it for an hour."

Daniel casually reached out and touched the crystal. Instantly, it opened up like the petals of a flower, exposing its core. Sam's mouth fell open and she looked at the archeologist.

"How'd you do that?"

Daniel tapped the side of his head. "Everything about them is controlled by thought processes. You just have to know what mental commands to give."

Sam smiled and shook her head. "Would you mind sticking around for a while? I have a feeling things will go a lot faster."

Daniel pulled up a chair and sat beside her. "I'm all yours."

_'I wish,'_ Sam said to herself. Then she gave herself a mental slap. This wasn't the time to think about that.

Though Daniel didn't have a great deal of knowledge on how the technology of the abikars worked, he was still a big help to Sam. In the end, however, she came to the inescapable conclusion that there was no way for them to create more of the devices.

"The level of technology is just too advanced, sir," she told Jack a while later. "And, even if it wasn't, there are materials used in the construction that I've never seen before. Without a supply of those materials, it would be impossible to construct more."

"So, unless Daniel turns more of the red ones into blue ones, that's the only one we're ever going to have?" the colonel asked.

"I'm afraid so."

"And I won't be doing that," Daniel told him. "The abikars can't be used for any beneficial purpose. They were designed specifically to capture Gorrums. The one I accidentally activated during the test shut down when it failed to detect the presence of a Gorrum within the field it generated. If there had been some other kind of living creature trapped within the . . . I guess you could say the 'net' that the abikar cast, it would have shut down far sooner. That's one of the safety features. If a human being was caught by the full power of an abikar, they could be crushed by the extreme atmospheric pressure. The abikars are worthless to us unless a Gorrum happens to come to earth. As for the red ones, we already know what happens to anyone they're used on. I won't let them fall into the wrong hands. When we go back to Dichar, I'm going to destroy all of the crystals."

Jack glanced about. "Um, you might want to keep that to yourself, Daniel," he said in a low voice. "Although I agree with you, the NID and certain other factions wouldn't be happy. You know how eager some of those politicians and military bigwigs are to get their hands on anything they think can be used as a weapon. We're just going to have to make up a story, like saying that the Dicharins destroyed all the crystals themselves."

"What about this one?" Sam asked.

"We need to get rid of it, too," Jack answered. "As it stands now, the NID still don't know that Daniel is the only one who can control that thing, but if they do get their hands on it, they'll find out that they can't make it work. That's going to make them start to wonder what's going on."

Sam nodded. "You're right. As long as the NID never get their hands on it, there won't be a problem with keeping Daniel's secret."

"So, how do we get rid of the thing and make it look like an accident?"

"We can take it with us back to Dichar," Daniel replied. "I'm sure we'll be able to think of something."

That having been settled, everyone turned their attention to other things. As was usually the case when they were on stand-down and nothing to interest him was happening on the base, Jack got bored and restless. When that happened, he had a tendency to visit his teammates . . . a lot.

It was after about the seventh or eight visit to Sam's lab and Daniel's office that Jack began noticing a pattern. Quite often, when Sam was in her lab, Daniel was there, too, both of them working on some alien doohickey, sitting close together, talking in low voices, their faces reflecting their fascination with what they were working on. The same was true when he'd go see Daniel in his office. Often, he'd find Sam there chatting with him about something or listening to the archeologist as he discussed what he was working on. In fact, whenever Daniel was missing from his office or Sam from her lab, Jack would usually find them together. He was beginning to think that they'd been metamorphosed into siamese twins.

On one of the occasions when Jack did find Daniel alone in his office, the archeologist was sitting at his desk, looking at an unframed photo. There was a tender smile on his face. When he became aware of Jack's presence, he quickly placed the photo, face down, on his desk.

"Hi, Jack. Can I help you?" he asked.

"Nah, just stopping by to see what you're doing."

"Oh. I'm just translating some tablets that SG-16 found."

"Ah." Jack came up to the desk and started playing with a statue. He was trying to figure out how he was going to get a look at the picture without Daniel knowing. Hmm. Time for the old, distracting attention ploy.

Jack leaned his arm on the table and 'accidentally' knocked off a few file folders. "Oops. Sorry."

Daniel bent over to retrieve the folders, and Jack took the opportunity to peek at the picture. He then replaced it in the same spot and got down to help Daniel clean up the mess.

"Well, I can see that you're busy, so I'll let you get back to work," Jack said once the last folder was back on the desk. "Maybe we can have lunch."

"Sure, that would be good."

Jack left Daniel's office, thinking about the photo. It was of Daniel and Sam and had been taken at some get-together. Jack thought he recognized it as this year's Fourth of July party. Daniel and Sam had looked happy in the photo, wide smiles lighting their faces, an arm around each other. It had been a good party, the first one they'd had since Daniel's return. More than half of the off-duty personnel from the SGC had attended. The party that took place four days later was just the members of SG-1, Janet and Cassie. That party had been to celebrate Daniel's birthday and had been quieter and more introspective as everyone remembered how they'd each spent the previous July eighth alone, thinking about the friend who was no longer with them. A lot had changed since that lonely July eighth, most of it for the better. A lot had changed even in the short time since that photo was taken, and Jack was beginning to wonder of even more had changed than what he'd been aware of up till now.

It was late in the afternoon on the day before they were scheduled to go back to Dichar that Jack was approaching Sam's lab and heard hers and Daniel's voices. He came to a stop just outside the door and listened in.

"So, Sam, would you like to go on another one of those non-dates tonight?" Daniel asked. "There's a movie playing that I'd like to see."

"Oh, I'd really love to, Daniel, but I can't," Sam replied. "A friend of mine is in the hospital, and I promised to go see her."

"I'm sorry. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, it's nothing really serious. But she has no family, so she's kind of lonely sitting there in the hospital. I'd invite you to come along, but it wouldn't be a good idea."

"Why?"

"Helen would like it too much."

"Huh?" Daniel said in a bewildered voice.

Sam laughed. "Daniel, you are so refreshingly clueless when it comes to some things. Helen is single. She'd take one look at you and. . . ."

"Oh." By the tone of Daniel's voice, it was clear that he now understood.

There was a moment of silence. "That is unless you're interested in making Jack happy and getting a girlfriend," Sam finally said.

There was a slight tone in the major's voice that Jack picked up on, one that told him she would not be pleased if Daniel got a girlfriend.

"Uh . . . no, Sam, I'm not interested in going out and finding a girlfriend." There was a long pause. Then in a soft, sincere voice, Daniel said, "I don't need anyone new in my life. I already have everything and everyone that I need."

"It's good to hear you say that, Daniel." Sam's voice sounded happy. "I'm glad that you're happy. You deserve it." There was the sound of movement. "Well, I've got to get going. We can do the non-date another time, okay?"

"Sure, Sam. That would be great. See you tomorrow."

Jack quickly hurried away down the hall so that Daniel and Sam wouldn't know he'd been listening in on their conversation. He waited in a place he knew Daniel would have to pass by to get back to his office. A couple of minutes later, he spied the archeologist, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"Hey, Daniel."

The younger man looked up. "Oh, hi, Jack."

"You about ready to head home?"

"Um, actually, I was going to get a little more work done. I have no plans for tonight."

"Ah, well, in that case, why don't you come on over to my place? We can get some takeout and watch something on TV."

Daniel hesitated, looking like he intended to refuse. Jack didn't give him the chance. "Come on, Daniel. It'll be fun. And I seem to recall you saying something about taking my advice and getting a life outside of work."

The archeologist sighed. "All right. But if we're going to watch TV, it has to be something we both agree on."

"Deal. I'll pick up some Chinese on the way home. You want your usual?"

Daniel nodded.

"Okay, see you at my place in an hour."

Jack left the base, glad that he'd gotten Daniel to agree to come over. He hadn't invited the younger man because he wanted to share a meal and watch a movie with him. He had realized that he needed to have a little talk with Daniel about some things, for his friend's sake and for the well-being of the team.

Daniel arrived right on time. The two men ate dinner in relative silence, occasionally chatting about this and that. Jack was working up the courage to get on the subject that was the reason for inviting Daniel over.

They were cleaning off the table when Jack finally decided to go for it. "So, Daniel, what's up with you and Carter?"

Daniel's entire body stiffened for an instant, then he forcibly relaxed his muscles. "What are you talking about?" he asked, keeping his voice casual.

"Well, you two have been pretty chummy lately."

Daniel looked at Jack, his expression slightly angry. "We're friends, Jack. We've been friends for quite a while now, in case you didn't notice."

Oops. Okay, time for a different tactic. Anger would not be a good thing. "Yes, I know that, Daniel. I didn't mean to imply that it was wrong for you and Carter to show affection toward each other. I just noticed that you two have seemed to be getting closer recently, ever since. . . ."

"Ever since I died, Jack. You can say it. I died, twice, in fact. Though I'm not saying it was my favorite thing in the world to do, what happened that first time did teach me some things, most importantly that it was time for me to let myself be happy, to find some joy in my life. Up until a couple of weeks ago, do you know how long it had been since I was happy, really happy for more than just a few hours out of a day here and there? Six and a half years, Jack, not since I lost Sha're."

Jack turned away, upset to hear Daniel say that.

"For the first time since that day, I feel like . . . like I'm really okay, like my life is something to enjoy and look forward to."

Jack turned back to him. "I'm glad you feel that way, Daniel. It's good to see you happy. But . . ." Jack braced himself, "but I know that you can be happier."

Daniel frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" He suddenly decided that he didn't want to talk anymore. He turned away and headed for the living room. "Let's just watch some TV."

"You're in love with her, aren't you," Jack said quietly.

Daniel stopped so abruptly that he almost stumbled. He stood frozen in the center of the living room, his back toward Jack. "What makes you think that?" he finally asked in a tight voice.

"Because it's true. I don't hear you denying it."

Daniel changed directions and headed for the door. "I think I'd better go now."

"Dammit, Daniel! Don't run from this!" Seeing that the archeologist wasn't going to stop, Jack changed the tone of his voice. "Daniel, please. I need to know. Are you in love with Samantha?"

Daniel stopped again, his hand on the doorknob. He stood unmoving for several seconds, then his shoulders slumped. "Yes," he whispered, barely loud enough for Jack to hear.

Jack felt a brief twinge of pain, even though he had already guessed the answer. "What are you going to do about it?"

Daniel was still facing the door, his head bowed. "Nothing."

The answer surprised Jack. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to mess things up."

"Mess things up?"

Daniel let out a long, unsteady sigh. "Sam and I are friends, Jack, good friends, the best of friends. I don't want to lose that. I _can't_ lose that." He paused. "And you and I are friends, too."

Jack frowned. "What does that mean?"

At last, Daniel turned to face him. Their eyes met. "You know what it means."

This time, it was Jack who turned away. He busied himself in the kitchen. He heard Daniel come back into the room.

"And there's no point in you denying it either," the archeologist said.

"I . . . I do care about, Carter," Jack admitted after a moment.

"I know. I've known for a long time."

Jack didn't say anything to that. "How long have you known that you were in love with her?"

"Around . . . two and a half years, ever since that entity infected her and you had to zat her twice. But I knew long before then that I felt more than friendship for her."

Surprised, Jack looked at him again. "You never showed it."

"No. I can be a very good actor when I have to be. How about you?"

"I figured it out when we had those armbands and Carter and I were separated by the force field. She kept telling me to leave her, and I . . . just couldn't."

They both fell silent. Daniel was trying to decide whether or not he should ask a question. The answer was important to him, but he didn't want to upset Jack. "Jack, would you. . . ." He stopped. "Never mind."

"Would I what?"

Daniel shook his head. "Forget it. I don't have the right to ask."

Jack stared at him. "Just ask, Daniel."

There was a long silence, then, "Would you ever consider transferring out of the same chain of command as Sam so that you could be with her?"

"No," Jack replied after only a moment's hesitation. "Not as long as we're fighting the Goa'uld."

Daniel gave a nod, his gaze falling to the floor. It was something he had wondered about for quite a while.

"Daniel, if you had to, would you leave SG-1 to be with Carter?"

Daniel lifted his head and met the older man's eyes. "The truth?"

Jack gave a short nod.

"Yes. It would hurt, a lot, but if it was the only way and it would mean that I could be with her for the rest of my life, then, yes, I would."

That answer, more than anything else, made Jack realize how much Daniel loved Sam. He knew that being on SG-1 meant a great deal to Daniel. For him to be willing to sacrifice that was very revealing.

Jack took a deep breath as he came to a very hard decision. "Daniel, I do care about Carter, a whole lot more than I should, but let's face it. It could never work out between us, even if there wasn't the whole chain of command thing. I realized that a long time ago, and I've come to terms with it. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I've gotten past it. And I care enough about Sam that, if she can be happy with someone else, I want her to have that." He paused. "You two are good together. You're a lot alike. You'd be good for each other."

Daniel gaped at his friend. "Jack, are . . . are you giving me your blessing?"

Jack's face twisted into a grimace. "For cryin' out loud, Daniel. I'm not your father, and I'm certainly not Carter's father. All I'm saying is that I think you two could be happy together, though, frankly, the thought of how smart your kids would be scares the crap out of me."

Daniel was still staring at him, open-mouthed. "You're making a big assumption there, Jack. For Sam and I to be together, these feelings would have to be mutual."

"Yeah, I know that." He looked at Daniel closely. "And you'll never know if they are if you don't tell Carter how you feel. You're the bravest guy I've ever met, Daniel, and I've never known you to back down from anything that's important. Maybe it's time that you show some of that courage and determination in your personal life." He turned back to the sink and started filling it with water for the dishes. "Maybe a movie wouldn't be such a good thing tonight after all."

"Yeah." Daniel started walking out of the kitchen, then he paused. "Jack . . . your friendship is important to me. I wouldn't want to . . . to hurt that."

Jack looked at his friend. "Daniel." He waited for the archeologist to turn to him. "No matter what, I am never going to let anything get in the way of our friendship again. You understand?"

Daniel searched his eyes, then nodded slowly. "Yes. I understand." Their eyes met for a while longer. "Good night, Jack."

"Night, Daniel."

Jack watched Daniel leave, then turned his attention back to the dishes, feeling surprisingly proud of himself.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

As they stepped out of the wormhole onto Dichar this time, Daniel felt no nervousness. He knew that Bendrak would not be coming after him. The Gorrum was a prisoner within one of the very things that he'd used to steal the lives of others, and, soon, he would be gone forever. Daniel had no compunction against killing him. Bendrak was as evil as any Goa'uld and was responsible for the deaths of thousands.

SG-1 headed for the village. SG-3 had remained there, helping the Dicharins clean up and rebuild their homes. They had been joined by SG-5. As SG-1 came into view of the village, they saw that lots of progress had been made. The village almost looked whole again.

As the villagers caught sight of SG-1, they all stopped what they were doing, every pair of eyes on Daniel. Then, all at once, a hoard of them came forward and started touching, embracing and kissing him. Totally embarrassed by the display, the archeologist blushed furiously, repeatedly insisting that there was no need for this. His teammates just stood back and watched, grins on their faces.

At last, Gennae pushed forward through the crowd. He engulfed Daniel in a tight hug, then stepped back, holding the younger man at arm's length. "Daniel, we have heard of how you stood against Bendrak and destroyed him, nearly forfeiting your own life for our sakes. There are no words, no deeds that can repay you for this wonderful and courageous thing you have done. My people are free because of you, and we will be eternally grateful. From this day forward, our Insharras will speak of you to the people, passing on the story of what you did. You will be a hero of the Dicharins for all time."

"Thank you, Gennae, but I did no more than what I felt I had to. There was nothing especially heroic in my actions. And I certainly don't deserve all of this." Daniel waved his arms about at the gathered villagers.

A quiet voice drew his attention. "You are the only one in this place who believes so," Ayarla said. "Are you, then, more wise than all of us put together?"

Daniel looked flustered. "Well, I obviously can't say yes to that, now can I."

A smile lit the old woman's face, a wicked glint in her eyes. "No, you cannot."

Daniel smiled and shook his head. "I'd love to have seen what you were like thirty years ago, Ayarla. I bet you were really something else."

The Insharra stepped closer to Daniel and pulled his ear down close to her mouth. "If I were thirty years younger, dear Daniel, there is a certain young lady who would be fighting me for your affections."

Shocked, Daniel whipped his head around and stared down at the elderly woman. She winked at him, which made the archeologist blush again. Laughing, Ayarla gave him a pat on the arm and stepped back. The rest of the crowd wandered off and got back to work.

Jack came up beside the linguist and lightly nudged him in the ribs. "She's a bit old for you, don't ya think, Daniel?"

"Yeah, you're right, she is," Daniel agreed. "Maybe I can interest her in you." Then he walked off.

"Hey! Remember what I said before, Daniel! You'd make a good broom!" Jack shouted after him. Then he chuckled and shook his head. He turned to Sam. "Come on, Carter. Let's go make ourselves useful."

SG-1 spent the rest of the day helping out in the village and talking with the natives. Later in the afternoon, Daniel asked to see the crystal that contained Bendrak. He had not told the Dicharins that the Gorrum was alive within the abikar. They believed that Bendrak's life power had been pulled into the abikar and that he was, therefore, dead. Not wanting the Dicharins to worry, Daniel didn't correct that belief.

Alone in the hut where the Vault of Life was kept, Daniel stared at the abikar. To his surprise, he could faintly sense Bendrak's presence within it. That realization made him feel uneasy. He quickly placed the abikar back in the vault, along with the blue one that he'd brought from Earth, and locked the box.

That night, there was a big feast to honor Daniel and to celebrate the Dicharins' freedom from Bendrak. Being the guest of honor, Daniel was treated like royalty, which thoroughly embarrassed the modest archeologist. Throughout the evening, he kept insisting that all of this really wasn't necessary. Nobody paid any attentions to his objections.

It was late in the evening, after the villagers had retired for the night, when Sam saw Daniel slip out of the guest hut. She watched from the doorway as he walked a few yards away, his form lit by the bright moonlight filtering through the trees. Jack came up behind her.

"He's a good man," the colonel murmured.

Surprised by the unexpected comment, Sam looked at him, trying to read his expression. "Yes, he is."

Jack nodded very faintly, returning his gaze to the archeologist. "A better man than me."

Sam's brow puckered. "Sir, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, Sam." Jack didn't see the look of surprise on his 2IC's face at his use of her first name. "I've just been spending a lot of time thinking about things lately." He glanced at her. "Daniel looks like he could use some company." He then turned away and joined Teal'c.

Still puzzled by her commanding officer's behavior, Sam left the hut and walked toward Daniel. "It's a nice night," she commented as she reached him.

Daniel kept his eyes on the stars above. "Yeah, it is." Silence fell between them for a long moment, then the linguist gave a very soft sigh. "Sam, if there was something you really wanted, wanted so badly that you ached for it, but it was something you weren't sure if you could have, would you be willing to risk losing something else that's very precious to you by taking the chance and trying to get what you want?"

Sam thought about the question for a while before answering. "I guess it would all depend on which was more important to me, the thing I already had or the thing I wanted."

"But what if there was a chance, even a small chance, that you could have both?"

Sam looked at her best friend. "I don't know, Daniel. Sometimes, it's best to play it safe. But, sometimes, it's worth risking everything to go after what you want." Her eyes searched his profile. "Daniel, what's this all about?"

He finally turned to her, smiling faintly. "Just thinking about some things, Sam."

"The colonel just said the same thing to me. Daniel, did something happen between you two? Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Jack and I just talked about some stuff last night, something that I guess we should have talked about a long time ago." Daniel's eyes went to the moon, checking its position. "It's getting late. I guess we should turn in."

Sam followed him back to the hut, wondering if she'd ever know what it was that Daniel had been talking about tonight.

The next morning, Daniel suddenly decided that he wanted to go to the temple. Jack's first reaction was an adamant "No way in Hell."

"Jack, there's no danger in the temple," the archeologist reasoned. "It's just a building. Gennae told me last night that they plan on tearing it down, and I'd like to take a better look at it before it's gone. There are still some unanswered questions."

"Such as?"

"Such as why was the temple built in the first place? Ayarla said that Bendrak told the Dicharins he wanted a place to dwell. Okay, so let's say that an incorporeal being like Bendrak would, for some reason, want a . . . a house. Why is there nothing there? Except for the altar, there's nothing in the temple at all. And what about the month that Bendrak would 'sleep' after the Time of Tribute? Did he stay in the temple? I'd have thought that he would want someplace hidden away. Things just don't add up."

Jack reluctantly agreed to the trip to the temple. Once they got there, it took him a good ten minutes before he started to relax. During that time, Daniel and Sam were checking the place out.

"This place is pretty big for a building that has nothing in it," Sam commented.

"Yes, it is," Daniel agreed. "Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? I'm going to go inside."

Deciding to check something out, Sam pulled a device out of her vest pocket and turned it on. On the screen of the scanner she could see everything in the area that was emitting an energy pattern of some kind, which, as far as she could tell, were only the devices that she and her teammates were carrying, including their GPS locators. The device was also an infrared scanner and was showing the heat signatures of her teammates.

Suddenly, one of those heat signatures vanished off the screen. Gasping in shock, Sam jerked her head up to see that Daniel was nowhere in sight.

"Daniel!" she called anxiously.

The archeologist appeared in the doorway. "Yeah?"

Sam stared at him for a moment, then back down at the infrared scanner to find that his heat signature was now show up again. Realizing that she'd just discovered something, she called to the colonel. He, Daniel and Teal'c walked up to her.

"What's up?" the colonel asked her.

"I was scanning the area for any kind of device that is emitting an energy pattern or signal of some kind. This is also an infrared scanner, and, as you can see, it's showing yours, Daniel's and Teal'c's heat patterns. Now, watch this." Sam looked up at Daniel. "Go back into the temple and behind one of the walls."

As the archeologist returned to the building, the other three members of SG-1 watched the scanner. The moment he stepped behind the wall, his heat pattern disappeared.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed. "What the heck?"

"Would someone like to explain to me what's going on?" Daniel asked from the doorway a moment later.

"There is something inside the temple that's interfering with the infrared scanner," Sam replied. "The second you step behind a wall, you disappear off the screen."

"Okay, that's interesting. What would cause that?"

"I'm not sure. The thing is that I could still see the signal from your GPS locator, which leads me to believe that it's not a jamming device of some kind. There's also the fact that I'm not picking up any kind energy readings except for our own stuff."

"Are you sure that the infrared scanner can work through those stone walls?" Jack asked.

"If this was an ordinary scanner, then the stone walls would block detection of a person's heat pattern, but this one uses alien technology and is very powerful. It should have no trouble penetrating stone walls that thick. Sam looked at her C.O. "Sir, we need to find out what's causing this."

She, Jack and Teal'c entered the temple. Sam then asked the Jaffa to go back outside. His heat pattern remained visible until Sam told him to go behind a wall.

"It's definitely something in the walls," the major concluded. "Something is acting as a shield, blocking the infrared scanner's ability to see anything beyond it. The only answer I have is that there is something in the walls besides stone."

Jack tapped on one of the stones. "Maybe these things aren't really rocks at all."

Daniel looked around at the walls. "Well, there's one way to find out for sure." He crouched at the left edge of the doorway. Pulling out his knife, he began chipping away at the mortar holding one of the stones in place. Jack did the same, working on the outside. Within a few minutes, they managed to remove enough mortar to pull the stone out. Daniel examined it closely, hefting it.

"Well, if it's not a rock, someone did a pretty good job of making it look and feel like one," he stated. "It has the appearance, texture and weight of granite. Teal'c, let's see what it looks like on the inside."

The rock was placed upon the ground a few yards away from the temple. Standing well out of the way, SG-1 watched as the Jaffa took aim and blasted the stone with his staff weapon. The rock shattered.

Daniel examined the pieces. "Granite, just like I said," he announced. "I've seen similar stones throughout this area."

"Okay, so if it's not the rocks themselves, what's blocking the scanner?" Jack asked.

"The only other possibility is that there's some hidden device that's generating a field around the temple," Sam replied, "although why Bendrak would want to hide the heat pattern of anyone inside the temple is a mystery to me, unless heat patterns aren't the only thing that's hidden."

They returned to the temple. As he stepped inside, Daniel's eyes fell upon the door that stood open, and he came to a stop.

"Wait a minute," he said. "You guys stay there. Sam? Keep an eye on that scanner."

Daniel stepped all the way into the temple and shut the door. The second it was completely closed, both his heat pattern and the signal from his GPS locator disappeared from the screen. He opened the door back up after a few seconds, and Sam told him what happened. She, Jack and Teal'c then joined Daniel inside.

The colonel looked around. "Okay, it's not really a bad looking place. Sort of has a primitive charm, though the decor could definitely use some work. But excuse me if I don't see anything here that's worth the trouble of hiding from scanners."

"The Dicharins are technologically primitive," Daniel said. "Except for the abikars, they have no technology at all, so Bendrak didn't do it to hide something from them. He must have had someone else in mind." His gaze lifted to the ceiling. "Sam?"

Knowing what he was thinking, Sam went outside with Jack and Teal'c and had the Jaffa give her a boost up onto the roof of the temple. Sure enough, the infrared scanner was unable to penetrate through it, which probably meant that, when the door was closed, nothing inside the temple would be detectable.

While the others were outside, Daniel began looking around inside. He went to the center column. The thought came to him that it was too big. The girth was much larger than what would be needed to support the roof. He stepped up to it and began to examine it. He soon noticed something else. There appeared to be a continuous crack in the mortar between the stones, traveling all the way from the top of the column to the bottom. Leaning forward to study it more closely, he realized that it wasn't a crack, it was a seam. Daniel checked the other side, and, sure enough, a seam was there as well. The seams aligned with ones that were in the altar.

A suspicion growing in his mind, Daniel started looking for something else. Very soon, he found what he'd been seeking. One of the stones of the column looked like it was loose from the mortar. He pushed on it, quickly stepping back as the column abruptly split in half. The two halves moved away from each other, revealing an opening in the floor.

"Um . . . guys? I found something," Daniel called.

The others came in a moment later and saw the opening. Jack shone his flashlight down into the hole, which revealed that there was some kind of chamber below.

"I guess we should check it out," Jack said. "That looks to be about a ten, twelve foot drop. We don't have any rope, so we'll just have to chance it. Daniel, you're with me. Teal'c, cover us. Carter, stay here for now, but we may need you down there if there's any technical stuff."

Jack lowered himself over the edge until he was hanging by his hands. Then he let go and dropped the short distance to the floor. He snapped on his flashlight and shone it about. Not seeing anything that looked threatening, he told Daniel to come on down, then he began taking a look around. By the time Daniel got to the bottom, Jack had reached one of the walls. It was smooth and appeared to be made of some kind of metal.

"It's a little dark down here," Daniel commented. "I supposed you haven't found anything that looks like a light switch yet."

"Nope."

Three seconds later, the lights suddenly snapped on.

"Whoa!" Jack shouted, startled. He looked at Daniel, who had a funny smile on his face. "What did you do?"

"I just thought hard about wanting the lights on."

Jack stared at him. "You what?"

"The systems must be controlled by thoughts, just like the abikars."

"So, all you have to do is think something, and it happens?"

"Well, I'm sure there are limits, Jack."

Jack got this look of concentration on his face for a few seconds. "It's not working," he said.

"It's probably like the abikars. I'm the only one who can control the blue ones."

"Yeah, right. The ex-ascended thing again."

The two men turned their attention to the chamber.

"Jack, does this look a little familiar to you?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, come to think of it. It reminds me a little of the cargo bay of a tel'tak, except that there aren't any of those hieroglyph things on the walls."

Daniel walked over to what looked like a door. He concentrated on making it open, and it obediently complied. What was revealed on the other side confirmed their suspicions. They were within some kind of alien spacecraft.

"Well, well, well. So, this is the little secret Benny was hiding, eh?" Jack murmured, pleased at the discovery. He went back into the cargo bay. "Carter, you're gonna to want to see this." He then rejoined Daniel, who was looking around.

"Wow," Sam said a couple of minutes later as she entered the cockpit.

"This must be Bendrak's ship," Daniel said. "He buried it so that no one would see it."

"The temple must have been built so that passing ships wouldn't be able to detect the power from the onboard systems," Sam determined, "which would mean that whatever it is that's blocking my scanner very likely blocks other scanners and sensors as well." She looked about eagerly. "We need to find the propulsion system."

As the others looked around, Daniel walked up to the control console. There were no chairs, which didn't surprise him. After all, the Gorrums weren't corporeal, so they wouldn't need a place to sit. He found what he guessed was the main control panel and focused his thoughts on it, willing it to activate. A moment later, it did so, along with all the other panels.

"Abracadabra," he murmured under his breath. Then he realized what he was seeing. "Guys, I think I just found out what Bendrak stole." He turned to the others, an expression of excitement on his face. "This ship wasn't Bendrak's. It belongs to the Ancients."

Both Sam and Jack got the same expression of excitement on their faces and hurried forward to look at the control console. Daniel pointed at it.

"This writing is in a dialect of the Ancients' language," he explained.

"Wow. Daniel, do you realize how important a find this is?" Sam said excitedly. "The Ancients are one of the most technologically advanced races we've ever encountered. Even if we only manage to understand a fraction of the systems on this ship, it could be of enormous value to us."

"Yeah, and there's no way we're going to let the Tok'ra borrow this baby," Jack said emphatically. "You remember what happened the last time we let them borrow a ship we got hold of."

"Well, since I'm very likely the only one who could get this thing to fly, the Tok'ra wouldn't be able to borrow it anyway," Daniel said.

"Cool." Jack looked around again, totally jazzed by the fact that they'd found themselves an Ancient spaceship. "So, when do you think we'd be able to take this baby for a spin?"

"Sir, before we can even consider trying to fly it, we need to find the engine," Sam said. "It's possible that the ship is damaged, and that's why Bendrak landed here."

Daniel looked at the console. "Well, let's see if I can find out where it is." He concentrated on the control panel.

"Daniel, what are you doing?" Sam asked.

"He's thinking, Carter," Jack told her.

A moment later, the images on the screen started to change. Being accustomed to pushing and touching things to get them to work, it was strange using something that was operated exclusively through the power of thought, but Daniel got the hang of it quickly. He managed to bring up a floorplan of the ship. He led Sam and Jack back through the cargo hold to the opposite end of the ship, the door before them opening at his command to reveal the engine room. Sam's eyes widened like a child inside a candy store. She wandered around, looking at the systems.

"I can't even begin to guess how this works," she admitted, thrilled at the idea of all the hours of discovery she had before her. "We need to excavate this ship so that we can get a better look at it."

"Oh, don't worry, Major. We're definitely going to dig it out," Jack told her. "Right now, however, we need to report back to Hammond and let him know what's going on."

"I'd like to stay here and see if Ayarla knows any more about the temple and anything about the ship," Daniel said.

Teal'c remained with Daniel as Jack and Sam headed back to Earth.

"Have we got a surprise for you, General," the colonel said with a big smile as soon as they stepped out of the wormhole.

"Well, whatever it is, it seems to have pleased the both of you," the SGC commander remarked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm happy." Jack turned to Sam. "Aren't you happy?"

"Definitely, sir."

"Then I'm eager for you to tell me all about it," Hammond remarked.

They all went to the general's office.

"All right, so what is it that has you and the major so excited, Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"Well, we found a little something that Benny was hiding underneath the temple," Jack replied. He paused for dramatic effect. "An Ancient spaceship."

Hammond leaned forward over his desk, interest sparking in his eyes. "A spaceship built by the Ancients? How do you know that it belongs to the Ancients?"

"Daniel identified the writing on the control panel screens as their language," Sam told him.

"But get this," Jack said. "The whole ship is controlled by thoughts, the lights, the doors, the control screens, apparently everything."

"The thing is that Daniel is the only one with the ability to control the systems, sir," Sam said, "just as he's the only one who can activate the blue abikars."

"Well, that would cause a problem if the time came that we were able to use the ship," Hammond stated.

"Yeah, but, in a way, it's a good thing," Jack said. "For one thing, it will mean that it has to stay in our control. It would be useless to the NID or the techies at Area 51. The Tok'ra also can't ask to borrow it. In other words, we're gonna get to keep it." Jack was grinning like a kid who'd gotten the present he most wanted for Christmas.

"Sirs, there is one other problem," Sam said.

"What's that, Major?" Hammond asked.

"We're not going to be able to keep Daniel's secret anymore. It was one thing to hide the truth about the abikars. It would be impossible to hide the fact that only Daniel can control the ship."

That thought dimmed Jack's enthusiasm. For a brief moment, he wished that they hadn't found the ship since its discovery could put Daniel in danger. But then he thought about how that ship could help them defeat the Goa'uld. That was the main reason why they were all out there, including Daniel.

"Well, I guess we're just going to have to keep on our toes and watch out for any potential threats to Daniel from the NID," he said, hoping that everything would be all right.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Daniel had some news for them when Jack and Sam returned to Dichar.

"The Dicharins didn't know anything about the ship," he told them. "It was probably buried long before they were brought here. But Ayarla did tell me something interesting about the construction of the temple. She said that among the builders were a group of learned men who possessed knowledge from the time before Dengai brought the people here. These men were used for a special job and were threatened by Bendrak not to speak a word of what they did or saw. After the temple was completed, Bendrak killed the men to keep them silent. I'd guess that those men were the ones who built the mechanism for the column, and I'd bet that they knew about the ship." He looked at his teammates. "So, what did the general say?"

"We've got permission to dig up the ship and try to get it working," Jack replied. "A team of people will be sent through first thing in the morning to start tearing down the temple."

"What about the NID?" Daniel saw Jack and Sam glance at each other. "Come on, guys. I know what finding this ship means. If I'm the only one who can control it, the NID is going to find out."

"Don't you worry about that, Daniel," Jack told him. "We'll keep the NID off your back."

Daniel pushed that concern out of his mind in favor of a more pressing one. "We need to destroy the abikars before someone from the NID decides to come here."

"Yeah, we have to talk to Gennae about that. I should imagine that they'd be anxious to get rid of the things."

"Dengai!" a voice in the distance cried. SG-1 turned to see a Dicharin man running toward the village. "Dengai!" he yelled again.

Daniel hurried up to him. "Eolin! What is it?"

"Dengai has returned!" the man said excitedly. The people nearby began murmuring amongst themselves. "I took a walk to the temple. I wished to spit upon it and the evil that is left there from Bendrak. But when I came within sight of the temple, I saw a glowing form moving about it. It was like the Insharra described Dengai to be."

The members of SG-1 looked at each other.

"Sounds like an Ancient has come to make a house call," Jack muttered. "He'd better not be here for the ship. As far as I'm concerned, it's finders keepers."

Gennae came forward. "Daniel, can this be true? Has Dengai returned after all these years?"

"I don't know. It might be him or it could be another Ancient. We'll go talk to him, all right?"

The chieftain nodded. "Yes, it is good for you to be the one to welcome him. You were once one of his kind."

SG-1 immediately headed out for the temple. Daniel's mind was awhirl with thoughts. This would be the first time he had confronted one of the Ascended since descending, and he was more than a little worried.

They'd been walking for around fifteen minutes when Sam came up beside him. "Are you okay, Daniel?"

"Not really," he admitted. "This will be the first time since I descended that I've come face to face with an ascended being. What if they don't know that I've regained my memory? What if this one decides to take it away permanently?"

"I can't believe that they'd do that, Daniel. Why would they? As some kind of cruel punishment? It's not like you remember everything about when you were one of them."

"No, but I remember some things, like how to control the abikars. They might not be happy about that."

"Then we won't tell them," Jack said. "There's no reason why they have to even know about the abikars. They're all locked away in that vault. We'll just say, 'Hi. How are ya? Thanks for dropping by,' and leave it at that."

Daniel looked at the colonel. "What, no lecture about their noninterference policies? I seem to recall you saying something about doing that the next time you saw an Ancient."

"Nope, no lecture. I'll behave and be nice to the glowworm."

Daniel smiled faintly. "That'll be something to see."

A while after passing the Stargate, Daniel began sensing something. At first, he didn't understand what it was, then it dawned on him. "I can feel it," he said.

"The Ancient?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. It's . . . really different from when I felt Bendrak."

"Better, I hope," Jack said.

"Oh, yeah. It's better. It's sort of like a . . . a tingling inside me. A little strange, but not unpleasant."

They weren't far from the temple when Daniel abruptly halted. "It's coming," he told the others. A few seconds later, they all saw a light moving toward them up the path. Soon, the recognizable shape of an Ancient came into full view. It stopped a few yards away, hovering in midair. "Wait here," Daniel said to his teammates. Then he continued forward. He was around ten feet away from the ascended being when he stopped. A moment later, the Ancient coalesced into the figure of a man with blond hair and brown eyes. Those eyes studied Daniel closely.

"You were once ascended," he said in a quiet voice.

"Yes."

"Yet you are no longer."

"That obvious, huh?"

A look of recognition came to the Ancient's face. "Ah, you are the one."

Daniel's eyebrows lifted slightly. "The one?"

"I was not there when you were made mortal again, but I know of you. All of the Ascended do."

"Ah. Well, it's nice to know that my reputation precedes me. So, are you Dengai?"

"No. I am called Evin Har. I was a short distance from this world when I sensed an abikar being used. I came to investigate."

"Oh." So much for keeping the abikars a secret.

"There was a Gorrum here?"

"Yes. Bendrak."

Evin Har looked at him sharply. "Bendrak? The Ancients have sought him for many years."

"I know. I think he's been here almost the whole time. He's been playing the role of an evil spirit to the people of this planet for around a hundred and fifty years, and I'm sure that he was on the planet long before then. The abikars he had are probably some of the original ones stolen by the Gorrums."

Evin Har looked at Daniel closely. "You remember much for one whose memory was taken."

Daniel stiffened, his heart rate increasing. "Yeah."

"And how much is it that you do remember, Daniel Jackson?"

The archeologist paused. "Everything about my life as a human before I ascended. Almost nothing from the time I was ascended. I once used an abikar when I was ascended. When I saw the abikars here, it triggered something in my memory. I eventually remembered everything I knew about them and the Gorrums."

"You are fortunate that Bendrak did not kill you."

"Um, no, I'm not. He . . . did kill me. I just didn't stay dead. That wasn't the first time it's happened. I sort of have a habit of returning from the dead."

Evin Har stared at Daniel for so long that he started to get nervous. Then the Ancient began moving toward him. Daniel heard a movement behind him and knew it was Jack.

"Jack, stay there," he said.

"Daniel," the colonel said, not hiding the concern in his voice.

"I will not harm him, Jack O'Neill," Evin Har assured him.

The Ancient stopped about three feet from Daniel. "It was you who used the abikar?"

"Yes," Daniel admitted.

"You would have died, then. Your body could not have survived the process."

"Um . . . yes, I did. I didn't stay dead that time either, as you can see."

Evin Har stared at him a while longer, then smiled faintly. "A pearl diver may search the ocean floor for many years before finding the one oyster that contains the pearl that will bring them great wealth."

"I was wondering when you were going to start talking that way," Daniel murmured. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to go back to plain English."

"Wisdom speaks in its own language, Daniel. We must train our ears to understand it."

"Yeah. That's what I thought you'd say."

"Where is the abikar that holds Bendrak?"

"In the village with the others. Bendrak had over two hundred of them. Most of them are still in their altered state. Bendrak was forcing the humans on this planet to kill two hundred of their own people each year and store the life energy in the abikars for him to feed on."

An expression of regret flitted across Evin Har's face. "Bendrak was the last of the free ones. All that remains of their race are trapped upon their world now, and they will soon be gone. No more will die at their hands."

"That's good to hear."

"I will take the abikars with me. The one holding Bendrak will be destroyed."

The archeologist nodded, happy to hand the responsibility over to the Ancient. It would save them from having to make up a story about how the abikars were destroyed.

Daniel met Evin Har's eyes. "There's something I want to know, though chances are that you won't tell me. In fact, it's probably a waste of breath for me to even ask."

"Answers cannot be given if the questions are never asked."

"Yes." Daniel took a deep breath. "Why do you choose not to help others? Why do you sit by and do nothing when you could do so much with your power?"

"Do you ask this question for yourself or for the knowledge of all?"

"For myself mostly, though it is something that we all want to know." As Daniel stared into the Ancient's eyes, he came to a decision. "When I was ascended, I possessed all the powers you do. I could command wind and fire, create storms out of clear skies, and strike down foes with bolts of lightning, yet I was still powerless because I was not allowed to help even a single person who was in need. When I finally made the decision to do what was right, to break the rules of the Ancients and try to preserve life, I was made mortal again. You did it to punish me, and many would think of it that way. I did for a while. Yet, now, I see the truth. The real punishment was being ascended and not being given the freedom to do what I knew in my heart was the right thing. Now that I'm human again, I am more powerful than I ever was while ascended because I have the freedom to help make things better, even if just a little bit. Immortality and all the power in the universe are worthless if you spend all eternity turning a blind eye to the horrors that are taking place. I would rather have only a few more decades doing what I can to help than have forever doing nothing at all."

There was a long moment of silence after Daniel finished speaking.

"A lantern casts only a small circle of light," Evin Har said gently. "Though we may see clearly that which the light reveals, the darkness beyond remains a mystery, and there is far more hidden by the darkness than what can be seen within the light."

Daniel stared at the Ancient. "Are you saying that there's some hidden purpose behind this, some big reason why the Ancients stand on the sidelines?"

"A truly wise man knows when to find knowledge by seeking it and when to be patient and let the knowledge be revealed in its own time."

Daniel sighed. "Which means that we'll know what this is all about when the right time comes and you're ready to tell us."

Evin Har merely smiled.

"All right, so what now? You go off, taking the abikars with you, and we just keep carrying on like before, trying to do whatever we can to stop the Goa'uld before they take over the galaxy?"

"The flesh that covers the body is soft and easily torn. It is the bone that lies beneath that is strong."

"The greatest strength comes from within," Daniel murmured, understanding the Ancient's words. Did he mean that the power to defeat the Goa'uld was within the human race?

Evin Har nodded slightly. "That which is hidden can be a far greater weapon than what can be seen, for if the enemy cannot see it and knows not of its power, they will be unable to defend against it."

Though Daniel wasn't sure what Evin Har was talking about, he began to suspect something. His suspicions were confirmed by the Ancient's next words.

"The ship that Bendrak stole he intended to take back to his homeworld so that more of his kind could escape. But he did not succeed in hiding his intentions, so we were prepared for it."

"Ship? What ship?" Jack asked in a convincingly curious and innocent voice.

Evin Har looked at him, smiling knowingly. "He who feigns ignorance would often be wiser if he spoke nothing at all, for his claims of ignorance are lies that can be revealed, whereas silence is not a lie."

_'Crap. Even I understood that,'_ Jack thought. _'So much for getting to keep the ship.'_

Daniel opened his mouth to say something to the Ancient, but the words froze on his lips when Evin Har turned and stared at him piercingly.

"Most live their whole lives without ever leaving their childhood behind," the Ancient said. "It is the rare individual who achieves true maturity of the mind and spirit. Such ones gain a power that cannot be understood by others, for those others still see childish things. But beware. He who bears great power must look upon it as a deadly serpent of which he is the master. If it is not treated with caution and respect, it may turn and strike him. It is only in understanding the serpent and its nature that it may be handled safely."

Daniel's mouth hung open. Did he just understand that correctly?

The Ancient slowly backed away from Daniel. "The path that you set your feet upon years ago is still the one you walk, Daniel. It is the path to which you must stay true, for it is only upon it that you will find yourself."

With a final look at all of them, Evin Har lost his human appearance, becoming once again a creature of light. He floated upward into the sky and disappeared from view.

"Ummm . . . okay," Jack said, confusion in his voice. "What was that all about?"

"He's letting us keep the ship, Jack," Daniel told him, still not quite able to believe it.

Jack stared at him. "He's what? Okay, now that can't be true. These guys _never_ let us have the cool toys. They always say we're too young to play with them."

"Well, maybe Evin Har thinks we've grown up enough to 'play' with this one."

"No, Daniel Jackson, you are mistaken. I believe it is _you_ whom Evin Har feels is mature enough," Teal'c stated.

"Teal'c's right, Daniel," Sam said. "He was talking to you, not us. Besides, he had to know that you're the only person on Earth who can control that ship. He wasn't giving the ship to _us_, he was giving it to _you_."

The Jaffa nodded. "You are the master of whom he spoke. It is only you who can truly understand the power and, therefore, handle it safely."

"Works for me," Jack said. He slung an arm over Daniel's shoulders. "So, Daniel. Ya gonna let your buddies go for a drive with you in your new 'car'?"

Daniel smiled. "Sure, Jack, just as long as you don't mind that I'll be the one to do the driving."

"Nah, that's fine with me. Just don't get any speeding tickets."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Jack took a couple of steps down the path, then paused. "Oh, and, Daniel?" he said, looking at the archeologist over his shoulder. "You did a whole lot better job telling the glowworm off than I would have."

Daniel grinned. "Thanks, Jack. I guess my communication skills come in handy every now and then."

For the sake of his peace of mind, Jack insisted that they make sure the ship was still there. When he saw the temple, he relaxed but still chose to take a look down the ship's hatch. Assured that the ship was, indeed, still there, Jack contacted SG-3, who were still at the village. Colonel Reynolds told him that an Ancient showed up and took the box that the Dicharins called the Vault of Life. The villagers were all excited about the appearance and saw it as a good omen.

Since there were still a few hours to go before they were due back at the base, SG-1 decided to stay at the ship and get some work done. Sam had brought some equipment along, and the first thing she did was run some tests on the temple.

"When the door is closed, I can't penetrate the walls with any of the sensors or scanners I brought," she announced. "I'd be willing to bet that a ship in orbit would be unable to detect the presence of the Ancient ship. But I still have no clue what is responsible. If it was some kind of shield covering the temple, it wouldn't matter whether the door was open or closed."

All four of them entered the ship. As Sam studied the propulsion system, Jack and Teal'c checked for visible structural damage. Meanwhile, Daniel began familiarizing himself with the controls and onboard systems. He eventually came across the ship's diagnostic system. From it he found out why Bendrak landed on Dichar. A malfunction in the navigation system had wiped all the star charts from the ship's memory. Without the charts to guide him, the Gorrum would have gotten hopelessly lost. Daniel figured that Dichar was probably the first habitable planet that Bendrak came across.

"Okay, if the only thing wrong with the ship is that the star charts were lost, that's no big problem," Sam said when he told her what he'd learned. "We can download new charts. We just have to hope that the system isn't damaged physically."

"According to this it isn't," Daniel responded. "If I'm reading these diagnostics correctly, the only thing that's wrong is that the charts are gone." A smile suddenly came to his lips. "Of course."

"What is it?"

"Remember what Evin Har said? He said that Bendrak failed to hide his intentions, so the Ancients were prepared for it. The ship must have been booby-trapped. They probably placed traps on all their ships, and Bendrak sprung the one on this one. The star charts were deliberately wiped from the ship's memory so that he couldn't make it back to his homeworld."

"Why didn't they just set up a booby-trap that would disable the engines or something?" Jack asked.

"Because there would be the chance that Bendrak could fix physical damage to the ship," Sam answered. "Deleting the star charts couldn't be fixed unless Bendrak managed to get hold of new ones, and, considering how few cultures there are in the galaxy that are advanced enough to have interstellar travel, his chances of stumbling upon a planet where he could get hold of charts would be extremely small. In fact, without charts, he'd have no idea what direction to go in to even find a habitable planet. It would be like being stranded out in the middle of a forest with no idea where the nearest habitation was. Which direction would you take?"

Jack had a pleased look on his face. "But we do have charts, so that means we're in business. As soon as we get the ship dug out, we can fly it home. Um, how far from home are we, anyway?"

"It would take a Goa'uld cargo ship a minimum of a week to get to Earth from here, sir," Sam replied.

"Yeah, but this ship's gotta be faster than that, right?"

"That would be a fair assumption, O'Neill," Teal'c agreed. "This craft is more technologically advanced than a tel'tak."

Sam nodded in agreement. "There's really no way to know how long it will take."

Jack turned to Daniel. "So, you think you'll have your driver's license by the time we get this thing unburied and ready to go?"

"I think so. I really wish that Sam could read the Ancients' language, though. Some of the technical things I've been reading are way over my head."

"Well, maybe you could teach me," Sam said with a smile.

Daniel returned the smile. "Any time, Sam. In the meantime, I guess I could translate some of this stuff and give it to you."

Since there wasn't anything more for Jack and Teal'c to do on the ship, they went back up top. About half an hour later, Daniel called to Sam.

"What's up?" she asked as she came up beside him.

"We've agree that Bendrak had the temple built to hide the ship. So, where did he get the stuff he would have needed to make whatever it is that blocks the scanners? He didn't cannibalize it from the ship. That would show up in the diagnostics."

"Maybe he used spare parts."

"I thought of that, so I took a look at the ship's inventory. From what I can tell, it has some kind of system that can automatically detect when something has been taken, and, according to it, there are no missing spare parts. Oh, and the shield is definitely not being generated by the ship itself. In fact, the systems were completely shut down before we found it."

Sam frowned. "Maybe he used something that he brought with him, although there is another question, one I was wondering about before. Why is it that I cannot detect any kind of energy signature anywhere in the temple. Whatever is generating the shield has to be emitting energy of some kind, and it must be drawing power from somewhere. We really need to find it. If it can block out any kind of scanner or sensor it would be of enormous value to us. We're going to have to do a thorough search of the temple before it gets torn down."

SG-1 returned home as scheduled. Jack was eager to tell Hammond the latest news and impatiently suffered through the post-mission physical. Needless to say, he was the first one to speak when the debriefing began.

"So, General, you know how all those advanced races out there never let us have any of their technology, saying that we're too primitive, or too young, or whatever?" he said.

"Yes."

"Well, we just graduated to the big boy's club."

Hammond's brow knit. "Please explain."

"An Ancient showed up on Dichar, sir," Sam told him. "He detected the use of the abikar and came to investigate. Daniel spoke with him. He knew about the ship and apparently guessed right off that we knew about it as well."

"And he didn't take it?"

"No, sir."

"Why would an Ancient allow us to keep one of their ships?"

"Ah, but that's the thing, General," Jack said. "There's no doubt that he's letting us keep it, but it isn't _us_ that he gave it to. He gave it to Daniel."

Hammond's eyebrows rose, and he looked at the archeologist. "To you specifically?"

"I think the Ancient made it pretty clear that he was leaving the ship in Daniel's care, sir," Sam said.

"Apparently, he thinks that Daniel here is grown up enough to handle it," Jack added.

Hammond leaned back in his chair. "Well, this is an interesting development. I'm afraid, however, that both the military and the government may not respect Doctor Jackson's 'ownership' of the ship."

"Well, whether they do or don't isn't going to matter in the end since Daniel's the only one who can make it work," Jack said.

Hammond looked at Sam. "Major, is there any chance that the ship's systems could be converted to operate with standard controls?"

"Well, sir, that all depends. If the technology in that ship is like the abikars, I wouldn't even begin to know how to change it or even how to graft an additional set of controls onto it. I mean, we're talking about technology that reads complex thought patterns and is able to recognize which thoughts are commands to the ship and which aren't. Just the fact that the ship is able to understand Daniel's thoughts when he is, no doubt, thinking them in English rather than the Ancient language, means it is advanced enough that it's actually translating the brainwave patterns directly rather than just picking up on the words in Daniel's mind. And it does all this without physical contact. I'm not saying that I couldn't try, sir, but I have serious doubts that I'd get anywhere, and if the Pentagon really started pushing and sent over a team to work on the ship, they could wreck the system beyond my ability to repair."

Hammond nodded. "I will pass that onto the president in my report."

"And there's something else we need to consider," Daniel said. "I've been thinking about what Evin Har said, and I'm pretty sure that he and the other Ancients believe as the Nox, the Tollans and others did, that the human race, as a whole, is not mature enough to be trusted with highly advanced technology that can conceivably be used as a weapon."

"His words did, indeed, give that impression," Teal'c stated.

"Okay, so, for whatever reason, Evin Har has a different opinion of me and decided that I could be trusted to use the ship wisely." Daniel glanced around at the others. When everybody just looked at him, he continued. "If you managed to convert the ship to use standard controls, our government could choose to have someone outside the SGC fly it for who knows what kind of mission. I would no longer have any control over what the ship was used for. I kind of have a feeling that the Ancients wouldn't be too happy about that."

"He's right, General," Sam said. "Evin Har clearly intended for Daniel to retain control of the ship. If he doesn't, the Ancients could choose to take it back . . . or worse."

"And we really don't want those guys ticked off at us," Jack added.

Hammond nodded. "I tend to agree with you, and I will pass on all your thoughts and concerns to the president. But, in the end, the decision is not mine to make."


	25. Chapter 25 Finale

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next morning, a team was sent through the gate that, along with SG-1 and SG-5, got started examining the temple for whatever was generating the shield. By early afternoon, every stone and log in the temple had been thoroughly examined. There were no hidden compartments and no sign of any kind of device.

"All right, so if it isn't coming from the ship, and there's nothing hidden in the temple, what's generating that shield?" Jack asked. He and rest of SG-1 were alone in the temple at the moment.

Sam answered him. "The only answer I can come up with, sir, is that there are tiny shield generators hidden right inside the walls, probably buried in the mortar. There would have to be some in the door as well. They would then all work in conjunction with each other, forming a kind of net."

Daniel was standing near the center of the temple, his eyes looking about at the roof and walls. "What if there are no devices here at all?" he abruptly said.

Jack stared at him. "What?"

Daniel turned to Sam. "The UAV that was sent here was equipped with sensors to detect heat patterns, right?" Sam nodded. "Yet it failed to spot the Dicharins, even though there's a village only a couple of miles from the gate. Now, I can understand why we didn't see the structures in the village on the video feed, but why didn't the sensors spot the heat patterns of the people in the village?"

Sam frowned. "Daniel, what are you saying?"

"What if what's blocking the sensors is a natural occurrence? What if there's some natural substance on this planet that interferes with any kind of scanner or sensor?"

"Would that be possible?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I suppose it could," Sam answered, "but it couldn't be anything in the atmosphere since, if it was, I wouldn't have been able to use the scanners at all."

Daniel touched the door. "I learned from Gennae that the stuff this wood is coated with is made from a tarry substance that comes from a bog that's a few hours' walk from here," Daniel told his teammates. "The stuff, once it dries, is waterproof. The Dicharins coat hides with it and put the hides underneath the thatching on their roofs to keep the rain out."

"You think that the tar has something in it?" Jack asked.

"Well, when the UAV approached the village, the Dicharins might have been frightened and taken shelter in their homes. If the tar does have some substance in it that blocks the ability of sensors to penetrate it, the UAV wouldn't have been able to see the heat patterns of the villagers."

"But what about the walls?"

Daniel walked over to the wall to the left of the doorway. His gaze went to the ground. Kneeling, he ran a finger through the dust of the mortar they'd chipped away. "Sam, look at this." He held up his finger.

The major bent over and saw that the mortar had a faint sparkle to it, though barely noticeable and only in direct sunlight.

"This doesn't have the same texture as regular mortar, not what we use on Earth nowadays," Daniel mused. "But then, different materials have been used throughout history as mortar for stones and bricks, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. However. . . ."

"Those particles could be some kind of mineral or metallic substance that is causing the interference," Sam finished.

Daniel nodded. "It's worth checking out."

"I'll take some samples back with me." Sam gathered up a few broken pieces of the mortar and put them in one of the container she used for soil samples. She then took samples of the substance coating the door.

"Daniel, if you're right about this, it's possible that this whole planet or at least this entire area is a resource for a substance that could be used to prevent ships and structures from being penetrated by electronic sensors," Sam said, growing excited. "That would be a very important discovery, both for use against the Goa'uld and on Earth."

"All right, you take those samples back to the base and get to work on them, Carter," Jack ordered. "Daniel, maybe you can find out from Gennae how they make that mortar. In the meantime, the rest of us will get started tearing down this temple. All of the demolition and construction equipment we could fit through the gate is here, so it shouldn't take us long to remove the roof. Then we can demolish the walls."

"Okay, but before you leave, Sam, we can test my theory by going back to the village and seeing if the infrared scanner will penetrate the roof of one of the huts," Daniel said.

"Good idea."

Shortly after their return to the village, Daniel's theory was proven to be correct. Excited by the discovery, he and Sam asked about the mortar that was used in the temple walls. They learned that the mortar was made from several natural ingredients, including the soil, and that the Dicharins used a similar mixture for their pottery. Sam dug up a soil sample and, sure enough, a few inches down, she found the same glitter present. Taking the samples of soil, mortar and the tar-like substance, as well as a piece of pottery, she and Daniel returned through the gate.

A few hours later, it had been conclusively confirmed that the tar, mortar and soil all contained an unknown mineral that interfered with sensors. When Daniel placed his fresh cup of hot coffee underneath the bowl they'd brought back, the infrared scanner was unable to detect the heat.

"This is amazing, Daniel," Sam told him. "Do you realize what this means? If we coat ships like the 302's and Prometheus with this, it might make them invisible to Goa'uld sensors. Up till now, the only way that we could make a ship invisible to sensors was if we had a cloaking device onboard, and the energy needed to operate one made it impossible to install any on the 302's, even if we could have gotten hold of ones to use. This doesn't need an energy source. All we'd have to do is figure out a way of incorporating it into the hull. We'd have to redesign our sensor arrays since the barrier works both ways, but it could work. And then there are all the domestic applications. Buildings coated with this substance could be made impenetrable to spy satellites."

"Wouldn't that be a big problem if certain other countries got hold of the stuff?"

"Yes, but they'd have no way to manufacture it since it doesn't exist on Earth. We'd just have to make sure that large quantities weren't stored anyplace where it could be stolen. And this stuff is going to have to be kept top secret."

"I should imagine that includes keeping it secret from some of the other countries that know about the gate, like Russia and China."

"Yeah, that would be my guess."

They fell silent. Sam broke the silence a short while later.

"Daniel, none of us have even thought to ask you what you think of all this. Finding that ship has put a tremendous responsibility on you. Not only that, but it's probably going to lead to a whole lot of questions about you and exactly how your ascension then return to human form affected you physically. How are you handling all that?"

"I've tried not to think about it too much," Daniel admitted. "I have to admit that it makes me uneasy. I don't want to be turned into some kind of guinea pig."

"That won't happen, Daniel. We won't let it. After I was inhabited by Jolinar and found out that I could control some Goa'uld devices and detect the presence of a Goa'uld, some people wanted to run tests on me to see if they could figure out how it all worked. I said no, the colonel said no and the general said no, and that was the end of it. They couldn't force me to undergo testing since it would have been a violation of my rights. The same would be true for you."

"That's good to know."

"And how about this whole thing with the ship? How do you feel about that?"

Daniel thought about it for a while, his gaze on the table. "I guess my biggest concern is that I'm not worthy of Evin Har's confidence in me. What if I'm not . . . mature enough to control this kind of power? What if I make a mistake?"

Sam's hand covered his and gave it a squeeze. She looked straight into his eyes. "Daniel, I know you. You have always been a man whose compassion, integrity and strength of will was something I greatly admired, but over these years that we've been together, I've seen you grow and mature so much more. You have more inner strength than anyone I've ever known, Daniel. If I could choose anyone on this planet to be the . . . the keeper for that ship, it would be you."

Daniel's eyes dropped to her hand, which was still covering his. He turned his hand around, palm up, and curled his fingers around hers. A small smile came to his lips. "You're very good for my ego, Sam. You know that?"

"You have an ego?" she said teasingly.

Daniel's smile widened. "Yeah, I have one. Not much of one, but it's in there somewhere."

"That has got to be one of the great mysteries of life," Sam murmured.

Puzzled, Daniel looked at her. "What?"

"That someone like you doesn't have a big ego. I have met a lot of guys in my life who have, to put it politely, overly abundant egos, and most of them were nothing special, yet here you are, brilliant, strong, funny, capable, gor . . . good-looking, and you have almost no ego to speak of."

Daniel stared at her, his mouth slightly open. "You think I'm good-looking?" he said in a stunned tone of voice.

Sam didn't know whether to be embarrassed by his question or surprised by it. Seeing the expression on his face, she chose the latter. "Daniel, when's the last time you looked in a mirror? You can't tell me that you're totally unaware of your looks."

Now it was Daniel's turn to be embarrassed. His eyes dropped from hers. "I, um, never thought that much about it, I guess. It's not like I was the kind of guy in school who attracted all the girls. I was a geek."

Sam smiled. "Trust me, Daniel. You are not a geek anymore."

The archeologist blushed and smiled shyly. The thought ran through Sam's mind that all those girls who knew Daniel in school were idiots. They had no idea what they were missing out on.

Daniel's smile faded. His gaze darted up at her, then back down. "Um . . . Sam, would you. . . ." His voice faded off.

"Would I what?"

"I, uh, was just thinking that I'd really like—"

Daniel didn't get a chance to finish, for the phone chose that moment to ring. Excusing herself, Sam answered it. It was the general asking for an update. Sam began telling him what they'd discovered. Daniel waved at her and mouthed that he was heading back to his office. Receiving a nod, he left. Once he arrived at his office, he sat rather heavily in his chair. Looking at his hands, he saw that they were trembling slightly. He drew in a deep breath. He'd come so close to asking Sam out on a date. Daniel couldn't remember being that nervous since the first time he asked a girl out. He'd felt like a teenager asking a girl to the prom, except that he never went to the prom.

Daniel thought about what Jack had told him. He was never going to know if he and Sam could have a relationship if he didn't take a step in that direction. He needed to put his fear aside and take a chance.

Making up his mind to do just that, Daniel began thinking about how he was going to do it.

* * *

The temple was gone, the broken remains in a pile off to the side of the clearing, and the ship was in the process of being uncovered. Care had to be taken in digging it out so that there would be no chance of damaging the hull.

The NID was making noises about wanting to take the ship so that they could study it, but the president had told them that, at least for the present, the ship would be remaining under the control of the SGC. At the personal request of General Hammond, the president had not told the NID the reason why. The truth would have to be revealed eventually, but the longer they could keep it a secret the better.

To help appease the NID, abundant samples of the unique mineral that had been found on Dichar had been sent to them. Their scientists, who were all excited by the potential of the mineral, were working at finding ways to use it. Of course, the moment that the NID found out about the mineral, they started talking about conducting massive mining operations that would have made a mess of the countryside. Having learned their lesson during the disastrous events that occurred when they attempted to make a Trinium mining treaty with the Salish Indians on PXY-887, General Hammond made it clear that any mining operation would be conducted sensibly and with as little damage to the land as possible. It would also be conducted far away from the habitations of the Dicharins and would only be started after a mutually beneficial treaty with them had been made.

Before the excavation began, Daniel went through the ship's control screens and took hundreds of digital photos so that they could be studied and translated back at the base. He and Sam had been working from morning till night on the project. They had been taken off the duty roster for off-world missions so that their full attention could be devoted to learning all they could about the ship. Unable to help their teammates with their project, Jack and Teal'c decided to help with digging the ship out, that is until some bad weather moved into the area, putting a temporary halt to the excavation.

On Friday, Hammond ordered the team to take the weekend off, making sure that Daniel and Sam understood that they were not to set foot on the base. It was now late Friday afternoon, and Daniel was heading for Sam's lab. She'd received a request to work on an urgent job for one of the other SG teams and wanted to get it done before the weekend.

The closer Daniel got to Sam's lab, the faster his pulse got. He'd spent the last hour in his office trying to gather his courage for what he was about to do. By the time he came within sight of the lab, his heart was beating frantically, and his respiration had nearly doubled. He halted for a moment to regain his composure, then slowly continued forward. Stepping in the doorway, he paused and looked at Sam. She was focused on her project, oblivious to his presence. Daniel allowed himself a moment just to gaze at her. Then he took a deep breath and came in the room all the way. Sam noticed him and gave him a smile.

"Hi, Daniel."

"Hi. How's it going?"

"Good. I'm almost finished. Was there something you needed?"

Daniel swallowed. "Um . . . I was wondering if you had any plans for tonight."

"No, not really. Why?" She smiled again. "You want me to substitute for that nonexistent girlfriend again?"

"No." Daniel shifted on his feet. "Um, Sam, it's been fun having you do that. I've really enjoyed it. But . . . I don't want you to be a substitute for a nonexistent girlfriend anymore." He drew in another deep breath. "The truth is that I _do_ want a girlfriend, and . . . and there's someone that I want to be that girlfriend."

Sam felt a sharp, stabbing pain pierce her chest. She turned back to the table, unable to look at Daniel as he broke her heart. "Really?" she said, fighting to keep the pain out of her voice. "I didn't know that you were interested in someone like that."

"Yeah. I have been for a long time, but I never did anything about it. I'm finally ready to now."

God, this really hurt. Sam closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed painfully. "Whoever she is, she's a lucky lady."

"Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that she'll make _me_ feel pretty lucky if she says yes to one simple question."

"What question is that?"

There was a pause. "Would you go out on a date with me, Sam?" Daniel quietly asked.

Sam went absolutely still, her heart leaping up and fluttering about like a demented bird inside her chest cavity. Slowly, she turned to Daniel. He was gazing at her intently, his blue eyes filled with hope and what she realized was fear.

A smile slowly spread across Sam's face. "Well, Daniel, I guess you're going to be feeling pretty lucky, then," she said.

The most beautiful smile she'd ever seen lit Daniel's face like sunlight. "You have no idea, Sam. You have no idea."

Outside in the hallway, Jack turned around and headed back the way he'd come, a smile that was both happy and sad on his face. Things were going to be changing for his team. Whether or not the changes were all going to be good, he did not know, but he did know that, no matter what lay in their future, they would all stand beside each other and face the challenges ahead together, as teammates and as friends.

THE END . . . for now 


End file.
